Camarilla
by Annilaia
Summary: It was always just Bella and her mother, before Edward moved into town. Their group of friends have an amazing summer, full of adventures and disappointments. How many times will Bella reject Edward, before she realises they're made for each other. AH
1. Chapter 1

**This is a story that I am absolutely freaking excited to write. It's my favourite. I think once I'm done I'm going to revise it, so that it's my own story. I really, _really_ like it.**

**It's another summer story, and Edward may be a little bit based off of Dexter from _This Lullaby_, since the idea of him being rejected by Bella was what inspired this.**

**Anyway. It's a feelgood romance, all about our favourite characters, and everyone's human!**

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Camarilla

**Chapter one**

My father, Charlie, died before I was even born. They'd married young, my parents, and my mother was completely devastated when he passed. She chose to stay in the little town he was from, Forks, and raised me in the tiny house they'd bought after getting married.

Mom had a lot of help from her friends while she was pregnant, and those friends gave birth to two of my best friends, Angela Weber and Ben Cheney. The three of us grew up together, always as a trio. As you can imagine, when Ben and Ang started dating sophomore year I felt a little left out. But, as I pobserved throughout my junior year, Angela and Benjamin proved to be the sweetest couple I'd ever know. They actually seemed to be meant for each other.

As my confidence in this relationship grew, any faith I had for one of my own began to die.

My track record included: Mike Newton, Tyler Crowley, and Ryan; a kiss on the playground in second grade. Those boys have made me lose faith in humans of the male persuasion, which is why I was also thankful that every date of my mother's for the past years have been disasters. I want her to be happy, but she has little faith in them as well.

My mother became an independant woman. She opened her own book store, Les Petits Livres. The name made me laugh. It _sounded_ good, but when you knew french it didn't really make sense. It was an impressive store. She'd had rooms for the different genre's, she had boks in different languages, local writers, and all the new books.

She had a wall of GOOD CD's behind the cash. It was mostly easy listening, indy, instrumental stuff, the sort of thing you'd read a book with. But there were also a few rock CD's. No bad genre's, though.

I'd been emplyed at Les Petits Livres since I was 14. This was my fourth summer working. It was the summer of my senior year. I'd be 18 when school started again in September. We were in our last week of exams, as my friend Jasper Whitlock loved to point out.

Renee (mom) and I had met Jasper and his mom at a cooking class after they'd moved to town when we were 12. Renee had many strange hobbies that usually only lasted a month, at most. Meeting Jasper was the best thing that ever came from one.

Jasper had introduced me to Emmett McCarthy in 7th grade. Now, Emmett _was_ the big brother I'd never had. Those two were my very best friends, as Angela and Ben had begun to get a little closer.

Rosalie moved to Forks in 8th grade, I'd met her in a home economics class when we were partnered together. We were immediately Friends. Rosalie came with me to the table at lunch and wit hher we finally evened out the girl:boy ratio.

Of course, Emmett apparantly liked her better than most. They've been together since freshman year, now.

Jasper and I were the lonely ones. He'd similarly lost faith after Jessica and Katie. I didn't know why he didn't ask out more girls, he _was_ quite an attractive young man. I guess hanging out with that-girl-in-the-bookstore lost him a couple marks in their books.

The last person in my 'colourful' life in Forks was a young man by the name of Carlisle Cullen. He was a med student who came home for the summer's and christmasses and worked in mom's bookstore.

Carlisle was by far the most attractive man I'd ever seen. Blonde hair, blue eyes, lovely. He was the sweetest, nicest guy I'd ever known. I have no idea why he was single. If I was older, I'd have something to say about it.

It was the night before my Biology final, my last one before I was free for the summer. I was given the last shift for the night. We closed at nine, and it was currently five.

"Well, Bella," Carlisle said, pulling his sweater over his head. "Good luck on your test tomorrow!" He patted me on the head before flipping shut the cover of my ancient text. "If you need any help you should call me. I kind of know this stuff." He grinned and gave me a wink before leaving, the door jingling behind him.

I didn't have a single customer the entire night. It only took me a couple of hours to finish my work. Pricing new books, putting the stock back on shelves, cleaning the store. It was eight pm, the sun was just starting to set, and I was free to study all I wanted.

I was nearly finished chapter three when I heard a car pulling up. I moved my books and notes to the shelf underneath the counter and stood up, trying to look like I was working.

I grabbed the last pile of books to be returned, ones I was saving for the end of the night.

The bell over the door jingled as the most gorgeous guy in the world stepped inside. Carlisle was now second place to this guy in a grey t-shirt, dark jeans and converse sneakers. His hair was tossed all over the place, but it glittered in the orange twilight. I caught myself staring and his emerald green eyes flickered up to me. We both stopped and stared. He was just looking at me while I looked at him, mountains of books in my arms.

Finally, he smiled and turned into the classics room, while I walked into fiction to catch my breath. I breathed in deep and reached up to the shelf to place the book where it belonged when I heard "Excuse me," spoken in the most amazing voice.

I spun around quickly, losing my balance and falling into the arms of the hottie superbomb.

"Are you alright?" he asked while still holding me tightly. I'm not sure if he noticed, but my feet were working frantically to get me back up. He wouldn't let go, and as he was holding on to me from behind, I had no idea what expression was on his face.

"Um, you can let me go now," I mumbled. "If you like. I'm okay. this is an everday occurance for me."

"Oh! Sorry, of course." He jumped and righted me. I turned around and he was smiling beautifully at me.

"You know," he began with a sly expression. "I've heard that in 98 percent cases of clumsiness, helping the new boy in town find a book in the classics section has been an effective cure." I watched the corners of his lips curl into a grin as I found myself involuntarily smiling back at him.

"All right then," I said, heading out of the main area. "Let's see what we can do." He followed me out to the classics room and we stood in the middle. It was circular, floor to ceiling books all around us.

"What were you looking for?" I asked, avoiding looking at his face, for fear that I would stare and not stop.

"Dracula. And I can't tell how you have this room organized..." God, his voice was like music.

"Neither can I, most days. Good thing for you I'm a big fan of classics and I know exactly where everything is in here." I climbed onto the ladder closest to the door and moved about halfway up, where my eyes immediately landed on Mr. Bram Stoker and I pulled it out, passing it down to the boy before starting my climb down.

"My name is Edward, by the way," he added, standing behind my ladder to make sure I didn't fall. "Edward Masen."

"Pleasure meeting you, I'm Bella Swan." I stuck out my hand for him to shake, and when our skin touched there was an almost electric current that passed between us. He held on to my hand and didn't let go, just stared into my eyes, and I stared back, completely mesmerised by him.

"I think you and I have a connection," he said suddenly after moments of silence. I froze and just looked at him.

"Excuse me?"I finally whispered. He grinned and just nodded, still holding on to me.

"I really think you and i could have something ,don't you feel it?" he asked, leaning over the counter to get closer to me.

"That's 11.39, please," I said, holding our my hand for his payment. The door jingled. A short, black haired girl came almost dancing inside.

"Edward, hurry it up. Mom and Dad are waiting." she came right up to the counter and glared at him but smiled brightly at me.

"Go out with me sometime," he said to me, ignoring his sister, I was assuming.

"Um, no?" I said nervously, taking the visa he offered me and swiping it.

"Come now,' he persisted. "I really think we have something here!"

"You got that from the classic section?" I asked, passing him the book.

Edward smiled. "You say no now, but I think it's a good idea."

"I don't even know you!" I cried. his sister was watching us wide eyed.

"Then we'll be friends, first. You'll know what I mean soon enough, though." He was still smiling while my face was beet red.

"Come on, Edward," his sister grabbed his arm and led him out. "I'm sorry," she said to me. "He doesn't usually act like this." I nodded, a frown set on my lips.

Edward didn't know what he was talking about. He'd been in Forks for 5 minutes! When he saw the girls at shcool he'd surely change his mind. I'd never be good enough for someone like him.

"Bye Bella!" he called from the door. I waved meekly and pulled out my biology book, just as I heard them pull away.

Who does that? Seriously, how can he just come up to me and say something like that? I shrugged it off. I'd probably wouldn't see him again, and if I did it'd just be in school, and he'd have moved on to the preppier girls by then, no doubt.

The last half an hour flew as I crammed my brain with as much knowledge as possible. Before I knew it I was locking up and pulling out of the parking lot in the Volkswagon van Renee had bought for me when I turned 16.

this was the time when everyone was settling in for the night. It was quiet on the streets and there were hardly any cars out, the sun had almost completely set. I pulled onto my street, the one I had had since the day I was born. The same leafy trees bordering the sidewalks, though they grew, the same patch of forest at the dead end. It wasn't even a cul de sac. It just stopped.

The only thing that had changed since this morning was the house next door to mine. There was a moving van parked outside, blankets laid on the lawn with boxes sitting on top. The 'For Sale' sign that had been sold for a long time had disappeared, and I realised, when my heart skipped a beat, that I recognized the girl with short black hair.

Please, God. No.

I had to park closer to their house, next to my mother's beat up Saturn. I hopped out, but found myself staring at the family moving around their luminated white house.

They were painting, I gathered from the brushes in their hands. Just as the girl was heading for the front steps, there _he_ was. Edward. He walked out, a splotch of red paint on his cheek and he said something to the girl, laughing, and she went inside.

I found myself staring.

He just stopped. His shoulders slumped and he twisted the brush in his hand, looking down. It was like he was really thinking about something, but when his eyes turned up to the night sky and he gazed at the stars, it was too private a moment. I felt like an intruder on his revelation.

I tried my best to sneak away quietly, but as soon as Edward had turned his head upwards, my mother stuck hers out of her bedroom window.

"Bella?" she called loudly, though I was only standing underneath her. "Come inside, it's getting late." I cringed - caught.

"Hey, Bella!" I heard his lovely voice call. I turned slowly, tensed. Don't make him go crazy like at the store, PLEASE.

"Hello," I mumbled. Edward was moving closer to me. I tried my best to smile, but it came out like a grimace, I'm pretty sure.

"Looks like we're neighbours!" he said happily, now very close to me. "We'll be seeing a lot more of each other, then!"

I sighed, disappointed. I think he may have taken it the wrong way, however.

"Once we finish moving in, I'll have time to go out with you," he smiled. "We do have the whole summer ahead of us. Heck, we've got another year of school!"

My eyes had widened, and I didn't know what to say. "I'm not going out with you," I told him. And before he could protest from his opened mouth I added "My mother's calling," and walked inside, shutting and locking the door on the strangest night of my life.

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**See! I think it's so cool, and I'm not trying to be arrogant, ahaha. It's going to be big, 20 something chapters, for sure. I want it to be. I'll _make_ it be. :D Review, and let me know what you think, vote, or read the other's! I hope you like it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, apologies for the delay again. As was previously stated, laptop is broken :(**

**This chapter goes to Intoxicated by his Presence, for being the first person to demand a snippet in a pm. Usually I give sippets to people over MSN or when I really like what they're saying so I say "HERE READ THIS!"**

**A couple of things to address...**

**I _totally_ can see how Edward is really arrogant by asking Bella out like that, but I really didn't mean him to be. It was meant more of as a comedic thing. And he's just like it the whole time, he's being goofy and everything, but I can really tell how you'd see it that way :)**

**I haven't received as many comments about this one as say... Clandestine, in terms of how badly people want to read it, but I still REALLY like it. **

**I'm dedicating the whole story to Iyeshana, who hung out with me on a boat and MANY bus rides in May, and we stayed up all night writing.**

**:D**

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Chapter Two

"God, I thought that would never be over," Jasper sighed as we walked through the parking lot towards my van. We'd just finished our last final- Biology, and were now free for the summer. Emmett and Rosalie had written their Physics exams the day before and were expecting all of us to head out to Port Angeles for the day to celebrate.

Jasper made happy conversation with me on the way to my house to drop off our things. It made me forget that there was a lunatic living next door to me now. That was, until I pulled into the driveway.

The two of us hopped out of the car and I quickly dragged him inside, glancing nervously over my shoulder.

"Jeez, Bella. What's your problem?" Jasper asked once we were safely inside. I peeked from behind the curtains to make sure no one saw us. Maybe they were gone for the day…

"New neighbours," I mumbled. "Don't like them…" Jasper rolled his eyes and threw his bag along with mine into the laundry room while I found my wallet.

"Is your Mom still at work?" he asked.

"Yeah. She knows we've been planning this, so she and Carlisle agreed to cover my shift." I was sure I had everything I needed so I stood at the door, bracing myself to run to the van.

But my luck, just like my balance, rarely cooperated with me. And, on my way to the driver's side, I was caught.

"Hello!" called a female voice. I froze. This was losing precious time that I had to escape my street- and Edward. I turned, and there was the black haired girl. "Bella, right?"

I smiled, a genuine one, and nodded. "I'm Alice, Edward's sister. We didn't really get a chance to be introduced yesterday." I nodded. Jasper was next to me, and I noticed he was holding himself differently, like he was being careful of how he appeared.

Alice was quiet for a moment as she looked over Jasper but then turned to me, a bright smile on her face. "If you're not busy, would you like to come inside for a moment?" I opened my mouth , completely ready to protest, but the look on Alice's face, and the fact that I could see myself being her friend, caused me to say yes.

Jasper and I followed Alice across the lawn. He shot me a look (that I ignored) then jabbed me in the side. "Ow!" I exclaimed Alice turned to look at us curiously.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I've been so rude. Alice, this is my best friend Jasper Whitlock, Jasper, this is my new neighbour, Alice Masen." Jasper smiled and took Alice's hand and- what! He KISSED her hand! Alice giggled, and mockingly curtsied before turning to go inside.

I stopped Jasper, looking at him wide eyes, but he avoided my eyes, his cheeks turning a bright red.

We stepped inside and followed Alice through the foyer. After nearly e3ighteen years of living next door to it, I had always wondered what the inside of this house had been like. It didn't disappoint.

The entire entrance and a staircase leading upstairs were covered in a rich mahogany paneling. There was a sitting room to the left, before the staircase that was painted a pale blue, and was now furnished in antique furniture. To our right was an illustrious dining room. Towards the back of the house, past the staircase, was a gigantic kitchen with a small sunroom and eating area to one side. It was gorgeous.

Alice began the grand tour with those rooms before stepping onto the staircase, and my stomach plunged with dread. There was no doubt that very soon I was going to run into Edward. How could I not, it was like fate, for me to be miserable.

Alice danced down the hallway and when I recognized the door that should belong to a room opposite my own I hurried past, keeping my head turned towards the wall.

"This is my room, Bella!" Alice said happily.

"Wow…" I stepped through the doorway into her room. A canopied four poster bed with rich fabrics. One wall was covered in a beautiful wall paper; intricate fleur-de-lys patterns covered it, and the rest of her walls were painted a rich green. Her floors were hardwood, but there was a plush rug covering it, and I could see huge doors for a closet and bathroom.

"This is so awesome," I whispered in awe. Jasper stood there, feeling out of place but looking impressed nonetheless.

"Hey Alice?" a voice called from down the hallway. I tensed and right when I hear footsteps near the door, I ducked behind Jasper, who stood up straighter. He understood where I was coming from with this. See? Sometimes, kismet happens.

Edward stepped around the corner into Alice's room. I couldn't help it. My stomach lurched and my heart raced when I saw him. He was wearing dark, well fitting jeans and had a navy sweater in his hand. So, basically, from under Jasper's arm I had a nice view of his bare chest. His hair was sticking out cutely into all different angles…

Stupid boy. I did not want such hypocritical thoughts of him.

"Alice," he said. "Were we going to…" He noticed Jasper now, who still had his arms crossed like a bodyguard. I poked him and he relaxed, smiling, I hope.

"Edward, this is my new friend Jasper. Jasper, this is my brother, Edward." Edward grinned beautifully and reached out one hand to Jasper.

"Hi, nice to meet you," he said happily.

Jasper nodded. "Likewise. Well, Alice, me and… um, I should get going." I clutched onto his shirt. He wasn't going anywhere.

I suppose the sudden tug on Jasper's shirt, and the fact that he didn't move, twitched rather, made something catch Edward's eye; my foot I suspect. He peered down and met my eyes, grinned.

"Bella!" he exclaimed. "I thought it was strange that some random boy was here. It makes much more sense if he's your friend." I stepped into view grudgingly, even more disgruntled when he pulled his shirt on.

Edward's eyes then darted between Jasper and I and his smile faded. While Alice drew Jasper into a cheerful conversation, Edward held onto my arm and pulled me into the hallway.

"Bella," he whispered urgently. "Is Jasper your boyfriend?" he asked, fear evident in his voice. "Is that why you won't go out with me?" The hope in his eyes, and the fact that he was really cute, and the fact that I thought that Alice and Jasper might have a bit of a crush on each other, was what led me to say;

"No," rather than lie. His eyes immediately lit up again and that beautiful grin covered his lips. He mumbled something along the lines of "alright, still got a chance," and I rolled my eyes. "I don't have a boyfriend, boys don't like me."

Edward's eyebrows furrowed and he chuckled. "I can't understand why not," he murmured. "I think you're amazing." I blushed furiously and turned my eyes away from him.

"You don't even know me," I mumbled. Edward nodded from what I could catch. He placed his hand on my jaw, cupping my face and turning it so that I was looking at him.

"I don't know you," he said softly. "But I know I'm very good at reading people, and you're exactly the kind of person I want to get to know. And, despite what you may think, I find you quite beautiful." I was quiet, and completely still as I looked up at this boy who was, as he said it himself, amazing.

"Are you guys ready?" Jasper asked, breaking us from our reverie. We both looked over at them; Jasper was holding my car keys out to me.

"Alice and Edward are coming with us," Jasper said.

"What?!" Edward and I exclaimed.

"They're new to town," Jasper said simply. "So I invited them to come with us for the day." I glared at him, smiled at Alice, and ignored Edward as I huffed down the stairs and back outside, waiting next to my van. Jasper came out, leaning next to me and grinning stupidly.

"You've got a crush," I sang annoyingly. Jasper blushed and pulled open the sliding door, climbing into the back when the two were in sight. I grinned at him and placed my bag in the middle of the two front seats.

I hear the car doors shut and when I turned to my right I was shocked to find Edward sitting there, rather than the bubbly girl I was expecting. Edward just smiled brilliantly, turning to look ahead as we drove down the street.

To my surprise, Edward was less of a creep, and more like a friend on the drive to Port Angeles. I had been expecting him to keep pestering me to go on a date with him, or make more moves to hit on me. Instead, he was a complete gentleman, and I got to know him a lot better. I learned almost all of his favourite things, as he learned mine. Alice and Jasper had a heated conversation as well, and I found myself getting out of the car and walking next to Edward immediately. It felt like he was my friend. And I was going to show Rosalie that I could find more friends, and that Edward was all mine.

She hadn't heard yet, about my new neighbours, or what had happened the night before. I figured as we walked into the mall, that she could figure out anything by herself.

Rosalie and Emmett were leaning next to chairs in the food court when I walked in. The other three were by my sides and we looked like some of the happiest people in the world.

"Hey!" Emmett called happily. He stood forward and reached out a hand toward Edward. "I'm Emmett McCarty."

"Edward Masen," he said with a smile. Alice introduced herself to Rosalie, and once everyone knew everyone we all set off to start our summer shopping.

"I want a new bathing suit," Rosalie announced simply as we clicked through the suits hanging on the racks. Alice nodded and picked up an emerald green bikini, then stepped into a changing room.

"Here Bella," Rosalie said with a smile. She passed me the tiny pieces of cloth, a deep, royal blue.

"I don't want a new one," I muttered. Rosalie glared.

"Bella, you're getting a new one." I knew it was futile to fight with her, so I took it and begrudgingly walked into the dressing room. And, if I'm being honest, the look on her face was terrifying.

I grumbled the entire way into the dressing room, which, was only a stupid piece of fabric to save me from prying eyes.

"Bella let us see you when you're done!" Rosalie called cheerfully. I rolled my eyes before I flung open the curtain and jokingly leaned against the door frame.

Of course, what I wasn't expecting was for Emmett, Jasper and EDWARD to be standing there. Emmett and Jasper just laughed and turned away while Rosalie and Alice giggled, both dressed in their suits.

Edward grinned and I blushed at his eyes roaming over my body. I turned and quickly flung the curtain behind me.

"No," I heard him call out and saw his head poke in through the curtain, he was laughing, fighting with me to get through and I was laughing just as hard.

When I had changed I went back out, facing my friends who were all laughing, red in the face. I glared at them as I walked towards the front. Edward, smiling, walked next to me, no mention of the embarrassment my friends put me through. Which was nice. You'd think, after years of saying 'No' they'd learn to give it a rest, but that was like asking for peace on earth and the end to world hunger.

"Thank you," I said to him as we left my retarded friends, heading towards another store. "For not being a complete jerk. They don't understand the meaning of 'no'."

"It's alright," he laughed. "I wouldn't want you to do anything you don't have to." Aw, what a sweetie. Too bad I still won't go out with him.

Edward impressed me even more when he bee lined for a music store. We spent a while there, and he was even up for going to a book store with me.

Basically, by the time we met back up with the others, Rosalie and even Alice were very pissed that I hadn't bought more clothes. I didn't really have a witty comeback, so I stuck out my tongue and pulled open the van's door. Alice and Jasper climbed inside, pushing our purchases for the day into the back.

"So what's up next?" I asked, leaning against the open door. Edward stood in front of me, his hands in his pockets and shrugged. Emmett and Rosalie were in the process of climbing into his jeep.

"How about a movie?" Rose suggested. Alice nodded in agreement, so we all went along with that.

I followed the dirty white jeep down the major streets of Port Angeles, then pulled into the cinema parking in a spot near the door. I screamed when I saw Emmett running towards me, then I hurried to get inside first. The giant doors were what slowed me down, and when I was struggling to open them, he started to get a lead. In my haste to get inside I managed to trip up and face plant on the floor.

"Oh my God!" Emmett choked out through his laughter. "Are you okay?!" Aside from the carpet burn on my FACE?!

"Yeah, I'm fine," I grumbled. Sure , the state of my knees and elbows was of little concern.

"Are you alright?" Edward asked frantically, holding onto my shoulders and looking me over. I smiled weakly at him and nodded, rubbing my arms. Rather than try my hand at speaking again, I walked over to the others and watched as they fought over which movie to see.

"Guys, tell me what you want so that I can go get munchies," I demanded. Traditionally it went this way. I left them in charge of film selection, they yelled out the cinema and I hobbled inside, arms full of food and completely unaware of what movie I was about to see.

"Do you want some help?" Edward asked, already taking food from my arms, heavy with not-so-nutritional snacks.

"They said cinema number eight," Edward said softly while we maneuvered our way into the dimly lit theatre. Alice stood up and began frantically waving, something that Emmett usually did (and he still was). I blushed and Edward laughed, but let me walk in to sit next to Jasper, before sitting on my other side. I noticed out of the corner of my eyes that Jasper had reached out and taken Alice's hand in his, both of them sharing a bag of popcorn.

The movie was coupled with Emmett's "charming" antics of throwing popcorn at the fourteen year old girls in front of us, who were giggling and then staring at us. Once the food started flying they were about ready to cry. All in all it was an enjoyable experience; Edward didn't even try to be a creep. In fact, he and I discussed probably every feasible aspect of the movie, oftentimes being shushed by our companions. I felt a pang in my chest at the thought that this was the start to possibly a good friendship. Whether I was overjoyed or frightened by that was another question.


	3. Chapter 3

**Right. I forgot to mention in my last update two things.  
One, I started a C2! It's called Decent. So if you'd like to subscribe for that, you can!  
Two! I was nominated for the Twilight Awards' Human round!**

**The story nominated was Across the Ocean, for both 'Best Human Edward' and 'Best Romance'. So, if you'd like to please show your support and vote for little ol' me on the fourteenth, that would be spectacular and mean so so much to me :)**

**This chapter is cute. I have many little parts that are my favourites. Mainly, I like how Carlisle's character is coming along :)**

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**Chapter Three**

Summer days. They were warm(er) than other-season days. They held more adventure than other-season days. They made me braver than other-season days.

I had been making progress with the whole Edward situation. I was completely convinced that he was not a complete psychopath. In fact, we were bordering on best friend status. We'd begun hanging out by ourselves- driving places, running errands, going out of town, and it had only been two weeks since the Port Angeles trip. Mother knew I had a new friend, but I guess she thought it was Alice.

I kept up with my full time hours, making plenty of money to put towards an end of summer trip, and potentially winter tires.

Wednesdays were my favourite days. I opened with Carlisle, and Mom came in for the evening, giving me afternoons free.

9 am on Wednesdays. That was when we opened. I arrived at ten to, just as Carlisle was walking to the door.

"Good morning, Miss Swan!" he said, bowing with a flourish. "What a fine day we have ahead of us!" And it was. Today was one of the few swelteringly hot summer days that was sunny. It was thickly hot, from all the humidity in the air, but the sun was pouring on us, making my pale skin freakishly white. I looked like one of those Halloween reflectors.

We put one of the signs outside to prop open the door and began patiently waiting for customers. Luckily, there was a new shipment in, so we had plenty to keep ourselves busy with, pricing and shelving.

Surprisingly, today was a very good one for business. At one point, there were roughly eight people in, an all time high- excluding new releases and sales. I had been up helping some people find what they were looking for when I heard a strange noise emanating from the front desk, followed by a hiss of my name. The blonde head barely peeking over the desk was what actually got me over.

"Carlisle?" I asked, glancing over the top. "Are you okay down there?" He jumped and sat down completely on the floor, ducking his head as one finger flew to his mouth.

"Shh!" he hissed, grabbing my shirt hem and roughly pulling me down to the floor. "Listen to me carefully," he said. "There is a girl out there- light brown hair and a yellow and grey dress. Do you see her?" I peeked over and sure enough, there was a beautiful young woman, nose stuck into her book as she slowly walked towards our desk.

"Yes?" I asked. "What about her."

Carlisle sighed and mussed up his hair. "Isn't she amazing?" He had the goofiest look on his face, I couldn't help but smile.

"I don't really know her, Carlisle," I said. "But I think it's mighty cute you have a crush."

"I don't know who she is either," he murmured. "But there's just something about her… what should I do?"

"I'd suggest getting up and cashing her out, since she's almost here." Carlisle and I both stood up, attempting to look busy by picking up bags and receipt paper.

"Hello," she said with a smile, before she looked up to Carlisle. When she did bring her eyes to meet his she froze, and her expression blanked before she smiled again.

I knew what had happened. It was a little something I referred to as 'dazzling'. If you looked at Carlisle while off your guard, it tended to happen. So far only Mr. Cullen had had the effect on me, but I had seen girls fall victim to the dazzling prowess of my dear Emmett and Jasper.

"Is this everything?" Carlisle asked after, and between several deep breaths. The woman grinned at him and nodded, biting her lip while he checked her through. I smiled at her, hoping I looked friendly, when I probably looked like a complete fool.

"Have a nice day!" I called happily.

"Have a pleasant… day…" Carlisle nearly shouted. I'm sure my wide eyed expression was enough to tell him he was crazy.

"What was that?!" I exclaimed, now that she had left.

"I don't even know!" he cried, covering his eyes with his arm. "God I am such an idiot. I can't believe I just screamed at her. She is not going to come back, and she probably thinks I'm a freak and I don't know who she is, and I'll probably never see her again. Oh, God…"

"Carlisle its okay," I murmured, rubbing his back. "She'll probably come back again; we are the only bookstore in town, after all."

"Do you really think so?" he asked hopefully. Poor guy. I nodded and a smile lit up his face again. He just kept on checking people through.

At two, Mom came in, as expected. I said goodbye to the lovesick doctor-to-be and drove back home, anxious to see my friends again. I went inside and disposed of my work vest and let my hair out of its ponytail.

Skipping across the lawn to Edward's place had become a regular occurrence. I was bound to run a trail into the grass at the rate I went. I stood in front of their door and rang the bell. I was a frequent visitor to the Masen house, but I still thought it was polite to ring first.

"Hello, Bella!" Elizabeth, Edward's mother, greeted. "How are you today?"

"I'm good, Mrs. Masen," I said with a smile. "Is Edward or Alice home?"

"I'm sorry dear," she said, wiping her hands in a tea towel. "Edward's not home until later and Alice went to Jasper's for the day."

"Oh!" I said, completely shocked. "Alright then, thank you!" I turned and walked back to my house. Alice went to Jasper's? I wondered. They had been awfully cozy, but we all usually hung out in groups. This was a startling turn of events.

I had to find out.

I grabbed my car keys and hurried back out to the van. Thank God I didn't have to worry about sweaters or jackets. It was warm enough that I was only wearing jeans, a blue t shirt and my converse sneakers. The drive to Jasper's was always generally a short one. He only lived a couple of blocks away. I pulled on to the side of the road before skipping up the front steps and letting myself inside.

His parents were at work. That much was clear from the lack of vehicular transportation in the driveway, and the fact that the house was dead silent- Jasper's mom loved playing music full blast. There was laughter from downstairs, and electric sounds- the television or a video game, I was sure. I quirked an eyebrow at the giggles, and slowly crept down the stairs.

The general seating area of the rec room was right around the corner. And, I was never one for boring entrances. Drama all the way.

"A-ha!" I yelled, jumping out and landing with a loud bang. I heard two screams, and my two friends went flying from the couch onto the floor.

One might think their hasty voyage to the carpet was caused by the need to eliminate evidence of cuddling or snuggling, a tell-tale sign of "something fishy".

The fact is though that before my over-the-top entrance, I had seen that they were just sitting next to each other. Just sitting next to each other.

"Jeez, Bella!" Jasper yelled, jumping to his feet. "What is wrong with you?!" He hurried over to Alice, helping her to her feet and checking her for any damage. She blushed at his touch and I sheepishly avoided my eyes.

There was the sign of 'something fishy.'

"Sorry, I just missed my two best buds!" I said, trying not to look guilty as I flopped over the back of the couch and sat down.

I stayed with them for the remainder of the afternoon. Mom called looking for me around five.

"I'm closing up early," she said with a sigh. "I'm pretty sure it's because of Carlisle's looks that we had as many customers as we did yesterday. There has been zero activity for me, so come up and we'll go get some groceries before we head back home."

"Got to go you guys," I told them. "Maybe we can do something later on, as a group." I suggested.

Here's something fishy; Jasper looked around nervously, fiddling with the hem on his shirt. "Alice and I were going to go see a movie in Port Angeles tonight," he said quietly. "So, we won't be able to do anything."

I smiled at them. "Its fine, you deserve it. Edward's definitely not doing anything. Later, guys."

Mom, waiting outside Les Petit Livres in the misting rain, was wearing a summer dress and a cardigan, looking rather pretty, if I do say so. She waved when she saw me drive by and got into her car, following me to the Thriftway.

Emmett was working, like he usually did, in his silly green uniform. He looked up, smiled and waved before I followed mom down through the bakery.

I was making constant chatter with my mom, mostly about my suspicions with Alice and Jasper. Of course, I came to a screeching halt when I turned into the juice/ school-lunch-food-type-things aisle.

"Bella!" Edward exclaimed, throwing open his arms and running to catch me up in a hug. My mother raised her eyebrows at me from over his shoulder and I rolled my eyes. I noticed that he was also wearing a cheesy green uniform.

"Since when did you work here?!" I asked. He grinned at me.

"Today is my first day," he said happily. "Emmett got me the job. How does it look?!" he asked, holding out his arms and turning in a circle. I stifled a snorted laugh, but Edward just rolled his eyes at me.

"Hello," mom said with a wide smile, shoving her hand between us to grad something off the shelf. She very politely and suspiciously continued to walk while I stayed to chat with Edward.

"So what time do you get off work?" I asked with a smile. He grinned back.

"Around seven, why?"

"Alice and Jasper are occupied, and Emmett's taking Rose out for a date. I need a buddy," I explained. Edward's face lit up and he nodded vigorously, breaking down another box. "Good. Any ideas what we can do?"

He thought for a moment. "Movie night?"

"Okay! Awesome, I'll pick you up from work then?"

"Yep, just bring me a change of clothes." I nodded, gave him a thumbs up before heading off to find my mother. I found her in the bakery again, seriously contemplating some bagels, as though they might be the chosen ones to save the toasting nation.

"Having a hard time there?" I asked, manning my post behind the cart. Renée sighed heavily.

"This is definitely a life changing decision," she muttered, weighing the two options in her hands. "What do you think I should get?"

"Let's think about this logically, mother," I began. "You don't even eat bagels. I ear bagels, and I don't eat them very often, and, there's an unopened bag in the freezer."

"Right," she said with a nod, placing the donut rejects back on to the shelf.

At least it only took a couple more pep talks until we'd finished our shopping. I followed Renée home, unpacked the groceries while she was in the shower, and then skipped over to Edward's to pick out some clothes.

His parents were gone, so I let myself inside and hurried up to his room. I was badly tempted to search through his underwear, but decided to play the role of a good friend. I picked out a plain while t shirt and a pair of dark jeans before heading back out to my van.

I put on a CD that I knew Edward would like- it was filed with some of my favourite. I felt in a lighter, better mood as I drove towards the Thriftway, and a smiled crept on to my face when I saw Edward sitting outside, the fading sun making his bronze hair sparkle. He grinned when he saw me and quickly jumped into the back.

"Missed you," he mumbled, picking up the clothes I'd gotten him.

"Not likely," I shot back, maneuvering my way back onto the road and heading for the video store. Edward stayed in the back and I ashamedly watched his progress from the rear view mirror. He tipped over when he tried to put on the t shirt, thanks to me stopping at a red light.

Edward took the opportunity of my van at rest to sit back up, pull on his shirt and start to stand up a bit so that he could shimmy out of his work pants. I heard the belt drop to the floor at the exact moment the light turned green. I grinned to myself wickedly, and made a sharp let turn.

"BELLA!" I heard from the back, along with a loud bang. I looked in the rear view to see him pressed against the side of the van, sprawled out with his legs sticking upwards, still trying to pull on his jeans.

He glared when he heard me snickering, but managed to get on his pants, hopping back up to the front seat, his belt in his hand.

"You're evil," he grumbled, crossing his arms and refusing to look at me for the next two minutes.

"What kind should we get?" he asked when we pulled in. I shrugged and hurried inside after him, immediately walking to the right hand wall. We looked over the titles but were both too afraid to pick one out for fear of rejection.

I sighed heavily and then Edward turned, a big smile on his handsome face. "Let's make this a major even," he announced. We each pock out three movies we really want to see, meet back at the cash with the snacks we want, and then go." I grinned.

"All right then, sounds good." I left him, walked to the other end of the store and began picking out my movies.

By the time I got back to the cash I had picked out an action, a horror and a romance, just to tease him. I picked up a few packs of sour rope and a box of popcorn, plopping it all down in front of Ben Cheney, who looked very impressed with my choices.

"How's it going, Bella?" Ben asked. I smiled and turned around, leaning against the counter and scanning the aisles for Edward.

"Pretty good, I'm picking up the necessities for a movie marathon with my friend." I spotted him, pulling a bottle from the fridge while trying to balance his candy in one arm. I smiled and turned back around to Ben.

"You actually have a friend I don't know about?" Ben asked. I nodded, fiddling with a sign peeling off the counter.

"He's my new neighbour. He hit on me the first time I met him." Ben burst out laughing and I couldn't help but laugh along. Just when Ben was about to tell me my total I felt someone bump me and a whole new pile of candy and movies were thrown on mine. Edward's arm went around me and onto the counter, so that essentially I was in his arms.

"Can you add this to that?" he asked Ben almost angrily. Great. Possessive Edward was coming out. He did this to every guy I knew, even Carlisle before I explained that there was no way we were in a relationship.

"Pay for your own stuff," I grumbled, pulling out some bills.

"I am," he said, snatching the money from my hand and poking it in my pocket (back one, I might add) before handing Ben his debit card.

"Edward!" I yelled. "Don't pay for my things!" Ben just chuckled while the receipt printed off, smiling as he passed it to Edward.

"I'm using your gas up," he explained. "With the amount of driving around you'll do for me this summer, I'll owe you." I rolled my eyes and grumbled. "I'm Edward, by the way," he said, holding his hand out to Ben who introduced himself. I snatched the bag full of movies and stormed outside, leaving Edward with the other billion full of food.

I started up the car, glaring angrily ahead of me while Edward moped his way into the passenger side.

"Please don't be angry with me," he mumbled as I viciously pulled out on to the road.

"I don't like you spending money on me," I said curtly. He nodded but kept his eyes out the window.

"What movies did you get," I asked. He picked up the bag and read out the titles. I pointed out one of them.

"Isn't that a bit romantic for your tastes?" I asked.

"I thought you'd like to see it,' he said simply. My heart starting thumping uncontrollably.

"I did want to see it," I mumbled.

"I can't believe you actually picked out a horror movie," he mumbled. I shrugged my shoulders and pulled onto our street.

"I think mom is going out tonight," I told him, parking next to her car.

"Alright, I'm going to tell mom where I am," he said, smiling at me before hopping out. The gentleman in him of course made him carry all the bags to the door for me first.

"Mom, I'm back," I yelled up the stairs. I heard her thumping around, so I at least knew she was there.

I ran upstairs and peered into the bathroom. Lights were on everywhere and I looked back into the hallway just in time to see Renée rushing towards me before she nearly plowed me over.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" I asked, watching her manage to shimmy into a skirt and push in her earring at the same time. Impressive if you ask me.

"I'm meeting a couple of friends from cooking class for coffee," she said in a huff. I moved out of her way as she dug through the closet for some shoes. "And I'm running quite late." I gave a short nod and stepped clear out of the way.

I found my pyjama's in my bedroom, an old t shirt and a comfy pair of shorts and pulled them on, keeping on the white tube socks. I followed Renée down the stairs and watched from the bottom as she snatched up her keys and bolted out the door, leaving Edward baffled, standing on the porch with his hand still raised to knock.

I laughed and he took that as his cue to come inside. Edward launched himself onto the couch wile I went to the kitchen for glasses and bowls.

"Right, let's get this marathon on the go," I announced. We were lucking enough that we had a couple of hours of sunlight left. We made an unspoken decision to watch the action movies first, then the horror followed by the romance to calm us (me) down.

I'll admit that the action that Edward picked out was rather good. Sadly, mine was more serious and basically served as a transition to horror, the first of which we start close to eleven.

"Edward," I said as the opening credits started. "We haven't known each other very long, so I'm just going o tell you right now, that I'm very jumpy. Also, you should probably sit closer to me so that I am less scared, and no that is not an invitation to hit on me." His face fell a little, but he did scotch a little closer.

As promised, I forgot my delicious snacks and proceeded to hug a pillow for the majority of both movies. With a smile I realized that I'd only jumped badly three times (one of which I was holding popcorn and managed to throw it all over Edward.)

"I'm sleepy," he mumbled as I got up to put on the first romantic comedy.

"You can sleep through this, if you like," I told him.

"Okay," he conceded. I sat down and threw a blanket over myself, unsurprised when Edward did the same, surprised when he then wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his head on my stomach, like he was hugging a pillow.

"Sorry," he mumbled, without feeling sorry, I'm sure.

It was nearing the VERY wee hours of the morning, and I was a little concerned that my mother wasn't yet home. Knowing her though she probably fell asleep at the Whitlock's.

The movie served its purpose of making me relax while I ran my fingers through Edward's soft hair. I hadn't even realized I was dozing off until I felt him get up to put on the next movie.

"I'm tired," I mumbled when he sat back down, rubbing his eyes. Without a word he laid down along the entire length of the couch and held his arms open.

My cheeks wanted to turn red, but I had the feeling even they were too tired. I vaguely remembered saying something along the lines of "don't make any moves on me, pervert," while I laid down half on him, using his chest for my pillow. He covered us in our blankets and I managed to stay awake with him for the first half hour. But, the soothing vibrations of his velvety tenor voice combined with the lazy circles he traced on my arm managed to lull me to sleep.

I woke up from the sun pouring in through the open curtains. While I knew I didn't have nearly the right amount of sleep, I wasn't going to get any more at this rate, and once I got up to close the curtains I'd have done too much movement to get back to sleep.

So, I forced myself off of Edward's rather warm and comfy self, marched across the carpeted floor and pulled the curtains shut so that maybe my friend could have a little bit more rest.

I pulled out the fixings for waffles and started searching through the cupboards for a large enough bowl, and hopefully not disturb too many pots while pulling out the waffle iron.

"Bella?!" Edward called frantically when he jerked awake from me hitting myself in the head with a saucepan and then dropping it with a clatter all over the floor. "Jeez, are you alright?!" he rushed to my side, dropping down next to me and carefully looked at the lump I was sprouting on my forehead.

"I'm fine," I choked out, even though I knew that my eyes were brimmed with tears. Edward quickly got up and filled a dishtowel with ice before sitting down next to me again and placing it on my forehead. He held it in place as soon as he was sure that it was completely covered, then looked down to my eyes. I was frantically wiping the tears away.

"You didn't break the skin, so at least you're not covered in blood," he said with a smirk. His eyes held so much concern, it almost seemed unfair that he was completely in love with me and I just thought he was cool. "What were you doing, anyway?"

"I just wanted to make you some breakfast," I whispered past the lump in my throat. Edward's eyes softened even more, smoldering with the adoring look he was giving me. He smiled.

"You're perfect Bella, do you know that? God, you're amazing," he pulled me into a hug and I held the ice in place while crying into his shoulder.

"Do you want to help me?" I asked him when we finally stood up again. He smiled brightly and nodded, so I directed him to cut up some fruit while I mixed the batter.

"Edward, I'm not strong enough to pour it, so you're going to have to take over waffle duty, okay?" I said with a laugh. The poor guy was massacring the fruit I gave him, so he took the heavy bowl and poured it into the iron while I cut up what was left to be saved.

The door opened with a creak and shut very lightly. We both stopped and looked towards the porch where my mother was slipping out of her high heels. Her hair was sticking out in various angles, and I was positive that she'd spent the night on Jasper's couch.

"Hey mom," I said with a smile. I put the first two waffles on a plate for her and threw some of the chopped up fruit on top, placing it on the table with the maple syrup. She sat down with a huff, looking very thankful. "You were out late," I added once she'd begun to eat.

"We met up and talked for a bit, and then decided to go see a movie. After that we went out for more coffee, talked until we were kicked out of the shop, and Christine and I went back to her place and gossiped," she said, throwing me a grin. My assumptions were correct.

Edward and I talked quietly back and forth while we finished cooking the rest of breakfast. Of course Mom was a little more than shocked to hear that Edward had spent the night. But, we'd had the talk when Emmett and Jasper had introduced as my very best friends. I knew she trusted me to be smarter than that anyway.

I couldn't help but notice that she was acting a bit more differently than usual. She had a nice warm colour to her cheeks, and her eyes had a dreamy, far off look. I kept catching her smiling to herself before she'd continue eating.

"I'm going to go back to bed for a bit, Bella," she said with a sigh. "Carlisle's opening today. So I'll go in for him later and you can relax." She put her dishes in the sink and then practically skipped up the stairs.

Edward and I sat down to the table, my bump only throbbing when I made sudden jerking movements, luckily.

"Something's up with my mom," I said to him. He looked at me for a moment, as if this were some sort of secret mission. Then he just stuffed half of the waffle in his face.

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**I actually think I might update Accident and Emergency again before I do The Lighthouse. I've been receiving so many questions and comments aimed towards it that I feel obligated to write a FAQ before I can go any further, so I will let you all know when that happens :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, Hello! And A GREAT BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOO! IYESHANA! IT WAS HER BIRTHDAY ON THE TWENTIETH! AND TO PSYCHOTIC FEMALE OF MANY NAMES! IT IS HER BIRTHDA ON THE TWENTY FIFTH! I figured this was a good day to post! It's in the middle! Iyeshana always want's Jalice, and PFOMN wanted some Carlisle and Esme, so I'm hoping this is good enough, especially if I promise to update Only You soon!**

**I can't promise that, ahaha. I'm still on hiatus, I still don't have my own computer, and yes; I am writing this in the document manager on , so please, bear with me through any typos. I tried to look them over, but a few are bound to peep through :)**

**Soooo! Sit tight, and enjoy! The plot even progresses a little! :O**

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**Chapter Four**

A few weeks passed. A few weeks which basically just included Edward and myself. The two couples of Rosalie, Emmett, Alice and Jasper tended to spend their time with one another.

Edward and I went together like peas and carrots. Our work schedules magically fit together, unlike everyone elses, and we found that when we all wanted to hang out together we never could.

Except for Edward and I. We could _always_ pencil each other into our schedules.

Carlisle and his mystery girl were something else though. I'd seen her twice since the fateful hide behind the counter incident. Carlisle hadn't. He did assure me, frequently, that he would definitely ask her out when he saw her again, and I was _really_ surprised when he actually did.

"Morning, Carlisle," I called. My shift started two hours after he opened the store. He smiled brightly from where he sat in the non-fiction room, pricing books. I went up to the counter, hiding my bag behind it and donning my vest. Picking up some pricing stickers I went to join him.

We sat on the ladders for hours until we were sure the books were done, then decided to take a break. Carlisle gave me some money and a list of stuff he wanted, and I drove to the nearest convenience store to pick up our lunch. He took his trusty sharpie and stickers and went into the children's section.

The gas bar provided its customer's with the much required fuel their vehicles, _and_ their bodies required. That is: food. The gas bar had a wide selection of sandwiches, subs, hot dogs, hamburgers, breakfast burritos, candy, bars, chips, soda, water, energy drinks - YOU NAME IT! They provided it.

I carefully re-read Carlisle's nurtitional desires and made my way around the familiar aisles. I picked up his sandwich, my sub, my juice and was pouring up his hazelnut coffee when two arms wrapped around my waist and held me tightly.

"Please save me..." Edward whimpered, his cheek pressed against my shouler. I chuckled.

"Why, what's wrong?" I turned around and faced him, and he looked _so_ sad.

"I didn't need to go in to work today so now I have to hang out with Alice and Jasper and they keep making gooey eyes at each other," he grumbled.

"Gooey eyes?"

Edward sighed. "Yeah, you know, gooey love eyes. I can tell they're undressing each other with those looks and it is _quite_ uncomfortable." I giggled. He looked so sad, and didn't know what to say. So he stuck the straw of a blue slushie into his mouth.

"It's okay, Edward. You make gooey eyes at me all the time!" I said, patting him on the shoulder and putting a cap on the coffee.

"Yeah, but you don't make them back so it's more pathetic than uncomfortable," was his poor argument.

"You can come to work with me, if you want. That's the only thing I can do for you." I pushed the money to the cashier and his eyes lit up, a huge smile on his face.

"Really?! Thank you _so _much!" He turned to his sister and waved. "Bye guys, I'm going with Bella now!" I looked and sure enough Alice and Jasper were standing by the beef and turkey jerky display making what can only be described as gooey eyes at one another.

Edward held the bag with mine and Carlisle's lunch in his lap while I drove us back to Les Petits Livres. When we went inside there turned out to be a few people shopping.

"Carlisle, you can go ear," I said when I found him in the children's room. He turned to me distractedly and smield.

"You can go first, Bella, I'm fine." I scrunched up my face in confusion.

"I haven't been here as long as you, it's alright, I can wait." He just shook his head, still smiling. Then I saw what had his attention.

The woman he was so besotted with was sitting in a chair, a young boy sitting in her lap while she read him a book. He looked to be about three or four years old, and I wondered if he was hers, or if she was babysitting. I'm sure we looked a sight. Carlisle and I staring at this woman, absently pushing books into the shelf wihle Edward stood behind us slurping contetedly on his slushie.

"Go introduce yourself," I hissed when the little boy ran to look at more books, leaving the woman sitting, smiling as she watche dhim. Carlisle's face burned bright red, but he did move towards her. I yanked Edward down into a chair with me and watched.

The woman was even prettier than I remembered. She was wearing a dark blue sundress, just to her knees with small cap sleeves. Her shoes were white heels, and she had a sweater resting in her lap. The gorgeous caramel curls fell all around her shoulders and framed her pretty face. For about a second I panicked, hoping Carlisle looked okay, but I had no need to worry. Beige khaki pants, black t-shirt, amazing blonde hair- simple, but man did he work it.

"He still crazy over her?" Edward asked. I nodded, I had told him the whole story.

When the woman noticed Carlisle walking towards her, she looked up at him and smiled. We were out of her sight, so we could watch without seeming like freaks, and we could also see the wide smile on Carlisle's face.

"Hello," he said smoothly. Thank _God_ he wasn't screaming at her today. "I'm Carlisle." He held out a hand and she shook it with a smile.

"I'm Esme," she said, her voice like bells. Carlisle's smiled widened. "That's my son, Johnathan." Carlisle's face was surprised. So was mine. She didn't look old enough to have a son, though I supposed she was only very young. I watched almost in awe as Esme introduced little Johnathan to Carlisle. The little boy then proceeded to climb into Carlisle's lap and demand to be read a book. And it was so cute to watch Carlisle with him in his arms, reading slowly to him while Johnathan happily pointed at pictures.

The look on Esme's face made me feel so happy, though. She was blushing, looking almost shocked at Carlisle with her son, and she was smiling so warmly and beautifully. My own cheeks grew hot.

"Come on," I said, dragging Edward back and to the main room with me. "Let's leave them alone for a while."

I took his slushie, taking a long sip before passing it back to him and sitting behind the counter. Edward leaned against the counter and took a drink. There was a moment before he turned around with a goofy smile on his face, and he was almost... _giggling_ to himself.

"What?" I said, wiping crumbs from my face. "Quit looking at me like that."

"It's like we kissed!" he said, wiggling where he stood, holding onto his cup for life.

"What are you talking about?!" I hissed. The stupid smile wouldn't leave his face.

"You took a drink from this straw, and then _I_ took a drink from this straw, and now _our_ saliva are dancing _together, on this straw!_" I actually hit my forehead.

"You're so gross and stupid, Edward. I have no idea why I am your friend." He merely smirked and finished up his drink before throwing it out. Edward told me about his morning while I finished up my lunch break. As soon as I finished and threw my garbage out, Carlisle, Esme and little Johnathan walked out of the kid's section, all three smiling happily and talking as Esme approached, passing me the handful of books she had for Johnathan.

It made me so happy even watching them that I threw in a ten percent discount just because of how happy she was making Carlisle. She said goodbye to Carlisle reluctantly, thanked me profusely and left the store, holding on to Johnathan's hand.

"So did you do it?" I asked plainly once she had left." Carlisle turned to me, looking dreamy eyed and nodded, a grin curling his lips.

"We're going to go out tomorrow night," he said happily, still smiling goofily. I laughed at him. Edward and I went into Classics to work (talk) while Carlisle had lunch.

Edward lounged about and I worked for hours. Carlisle eventually entertained us a little with stories of med school horrors when he finished eating. After a while my Mom came in to take over, and a couple of hours after that, I was free to go.

"So what do you want to do right now," I asked Edward as we stepped out of the book store.

He shrugged. "Whatever you want to do. We can see if everyone else is available..." he pulled out his cell phone and read a text displayed on his screen. "Yep, Alice is demanding our attentino for tonight. We are to go over to Emmett's. Look like we have something to do."

"Hoorah," I said softly, opening the door to my van. In truth, I was excited to hang out with everyone, but what caught my eye was a single man walking excitedly up to the front door of the bookstore, I could see his face only enough to see the gigantic grin stretching out his stubbly cheeks. He was holding a large bouquet of red roses and dressed rather well. Tonight was an early night to close the bookstore regardless, but I felt like Mom would be closing even sooner.

"I think he's the reason my Mom's been out a lot," I hissed, pulling Edward closer and pointing out the window.

"I was hoping when you grabbed my shirt like this it would be for a different reason," he muttered, watching my face closely. I smacked him and pushed him away.

"Shut up," I murmured. "I think my Mom's dating again, and I think that's the guy."

"You're about to go all spy kids and follow him around town, aren't you?" Edward asked. I was idling, just watching the door.

"No," I sighed, switching into drive and pulling on to the road. "Everyone's expecting us. We'll have to do that some other time."

"Good," he muttered. "Because I'm really happy to spend tonight with your mind on me and everyone else. Not some old guy and your Mom."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi everyone! Apparantly I have a block on this story and Clandestine! Uhoh! But, good news, I came up with a really excellent story idea, and I'm actually writing it on paper, like I will be these stories. So, when I get my laptop back, I can finish these up, and treat you guys to something I'm really excited for.**

**I'm leaving for university in the morning, so updates will be VERY sparse until I get my laptop back!**

**There is a link on my profile that you should read, it says READ THIS! So you can't miss it!**

**It has to do with Across the Ocean in the Twilight Awards, and YOUUU going to vote for it :D!**

**I hope you guys enjoy this! The song is by Death Cab for Cutie. The lyrics from the song are bits and pieces, and aren't meant in the same way they are in the song! :D!  
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**Chapter Five:**

_I remember when the days were long,  
And the nights when the living room was on the lawn._

"Why are we going to Emmett's again?" Edward asked as I pulled into the driveway.

"It might have something to do with his massive basement complete with the pool table, gigantic television and the pool in the backyard which may come as a relief in this heat." Edward nodded.

"It should get a little cooler, right?" he asked me. "The heat can't be this bad so late into the night…"

I shrugged. "It's been a pretty intense heat wave," I mumbled. Emmett's mother let us in on her way out the door. She rolled her eyes at the bags full of junk food we were carrying. You had to have enough if you planned on feeding Emmett.

We went first to the basement but were surprised to find nobody there. The television on and despite the emptiness of the room there was a video game on the screen, and it was being played by two people.

Edward caught my curious expression and shrugged. "Ghosts?"

"Hey Bella! Edward! Come outside, we're on the patio!" Emmett called. I looked up to the window and followed the controller cord. Emmett was lying on his stomach next to Jasper, both of them with their heads in the window, playing the game from outside. We both laughed at them and went upstairs to the patio outside.

"What's up?" Alice asked without looking up from her magazine. She and Rose were leaning back in their seats, their freshly painted toenails up for display on the table. I threw down the bags of food and they fished around blindly before they found something they liked.

"Cheetos, please," Emmett mumbled after hearing the crinkling bag. I threw the chips at his head and he expertly opened them and placed them between he and Jasper, all the while playing the game.

Edward walked over and sat near them, watching what they were doing while I sat down with the girls.

"Please don't ignore me in lieu of gossip," I said sweetly, waiting for them to look up. At the same time they slammed down their magazines and leaned forward to me.

"What do you want to do tonight, then?" Rosalie asked, pulling out a nail file and picked up one of my hands. Alice began a similar activity but with a little tool I didn't recognize. "God, Bella, your nails are horrible…" Rosalie muttered.

"Sorry, I tend not to notice the welfare of my nails when I'm shelving books." Alice snickered while Rosalie glared at me.

I allowed them the half an hour they needed to do my nails but I easily grew restless. Edward fought with Jasper and Emmett over who had actually won the game. He never asked to play himself, but he was making a good referee. Alice caught me looking over at him several times and when I met her eyes she'd raise her eyebrows at me.

Clearly she thought there was something there. Which there wasn't. At least not on my part.

"Is there anywhere cooler we can go and watch a movie or something…" Edward mumbled as he walked towards our table, stretching his arms high above his head. I couldn't help but watch how his shirt rose up from the top of his pants, revealing a part of his toned stomach.

I felt my cheeks flush as I looked away, watching the clear nail polish applied to my nails by Rosalie. Alice stood up and danced towards Jasper, tapping him with her toe. He immediately set down the controller and stood up with her, smiling widely as he watched her eyes. I smiled to myself, barely registering Edward standing closely by my side.

"Bella, can you come here for a minute?" Emmett asked, attempting to untangle himself from the controller's cord. I laughed at the sad, helpless look on his face. Edward walked with me to where the big bear was sitting on the flagstone, waiting for his rescue.

I sat down next to him and started winding the controller around him until he was finally free. Edward gave him some harsh words for needing to be rescued by a girl but they both laughed and helped me up.

We walked along the poolside and I watched the water glisten with light from the lanterns hanging on the fence. Then it all happened very quickly. Emmett's foot hooked in with my own, making me lunge forward. I instinctively grabbed for Edward's shoulder but tripped myself on my other leg, sending me careening to my right. Edward jumped around, his face surprised as he reached out to catch me but we both fell.

Right into the pool. There was a loud splash and a sudden coolness all around me as we plunged under the water. I groped around and finally caught Edward's hand I gasped for air when we broke the surface and could hear laughter all around us.

"You guys suck," Edward yelled out to them, pushing his hair out of his eyes and floating on his back.

"I don't know Edward, it_ is_ a lot cooler in this pool than out there. I don't know why they weren't smart enough to figure that out before." He grinned at me and tickled my sides, making me squeal and splash around in the water.

I heard another, more frightened squeal and watched as Jasper picked Alice up in his arms and dove in. Rosalie shot Emmett a death glare and after he pouted he did a cannonball in after us.

We played around in the water for ages until it finally grew dark enough that the small lanterns weren't enough light. We knew it was relatively late by then, and it was starting to get a little cooler.

I couldn't help but watch Edward as he stepped out of the pool, his shirt clung tightly to the muscles in his back. I may have swooned a little. I certainly did blush. He turned around and smiled at me, holding out a hand to help me out.

Rosalie ran next door to get a change of clothes and underwear, pyjamas, basically. She brought back a pair for Alice and I as well.

"Guys, toss me your clothes and underwear, please," I called from the laundry room. "I'm going to put them in to dry." Rosalie didn't have any problems while Alice and I waited for our underwear- we were stuck in towels waiting for it to dry. We did wear the t shirts Rosalie brought for us, though.

"I can't believe I have to face them with practically nothing on my lower half," Alice murmured. I smiled at her.

"I know, but it's only going to be like… half an hour- forty five minutes or so. There isn't much in the dryer." She grumbled and followed Rosalie out to the game room, Emmett's pride and joy of his basement.

We held tightly onto the towels around our waists as we peeked around the corners. The boys were throwing comforters and blankets and pillows all along the floor, making it comfortable for an inevitable, massive sleepover. I couldn't help but notice how nice the upper halves of their bodies were, as they too were clothed in only towels.

Edward was the first to notice us. He stood up straight and his eyes immediately met mine. He smiled, and I'm sure some lecherous thought was running through his head, knowing me. Emmett ran over and grabbed Rosalie into a big bear hug, slapping a sloppy kiss on her cheek. She giggled and pushed him away, sitting down with me in a big bean bag chair.

Alice curled up with her back leaning against our legs as we watched the boys fumble around with the surround sound and turn on a movie. It was entertaining I have to admit, since Jasper and Edward didn't have a clue and Emmett would get frustrated and hit them.

About half way through the movie the dryer went off and the girls and I went in to change. I let out a few steadying breaths, I didn't know what was wrong with me tonight, but I was completely flustered around Edward.

Out in the game room the boys had masterfully changed positions after grabbing their clothes. Edward and Jasper were wearing a pair of Emmett's sleep pants and were lying on the floor, wrapped in blankets with enough space between them for me and Alice. Emmett was lying on the couch looking slyly at Rosalie.

She, of course, launched herself at him while Alice slid down next to Jasper. My heart started thundering and I stalled by turning off the lights and making sure everything was put away before I laid down between Alice and Edward.

He was a gentleman, didn't make any moves on me like he usually would have. We all sleepily watched the movie and when it was done Edward turned everything off and turned to face me. He smiled warmly at me, and I'd never noticed just how beautiful his eyes were.

"Good night, Bella," he murmured. "Sweet dreams."

I smiled at him and patted his cheek with a grin on my face. He scowled and swatted my hand away but was too tired to stay mad at me.

The silence was almost deafening, and it seemed I was the only one still awake. Or so I thought. I heard Rosalie grunt, and then there was a slapping sound.

"Sorry," Emmett murmured after a moment of silence. I tried to fight back the giggles but I could feel Alice shaking next to me so we both burst out into laughter.

"Wandering hands," she whispered, which sent me into another fit of giggles. I buried my face in Edward's chest to muffle the sound, which woke him up a little more. He just wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close before falling back to sleep.

"Does anyone have to work tomorrow?" Emmett murmured into the quiet room. I was glad it was dark and no one could see the position I was in. Praying there wasn't a tremor in my voice I answered him.

"No, I've got a couple days off." Alice and Jasper did as well.

"Let's go to Port Angeles when we wake up. Make a day of it," Emmett decided. Everyone agreed, it seemed, as we all fell asleep.

* * *

_but the blatant proof was your lips touching mine in the photobooth._

When I woke up the first thing I noticed was that Edward's lips were _so _close to mine. I watched him as he slept for a few moments, the way his eyelashes fell on his skin, and the way his mouth was slightly parted. I lifted up a hand and absently brushed his lips, feeling the soft skin.

I let out a sighed and rolled away from him to free myself from his arms. I should _not_ be feeling like this. Edward was practically my best friend. He was goofing around every time he asked me out… I thought. In any case, it wasn't right to feel like this about my friend. It was probably just hormones! I definitely could _not_ feel like this about him.

I sat up and noticed Alice and Rosalie were gone. When I went into the laundry room to change I found them already there. They passed me a change of clothes Rosalie had gotten from home and we went upstairs to the kitchen to make some coffee.

After the smell started to float through the house the boys began to woke up. They came up, changed and ready to go. We filled up thermoses with coffee and piled into Emmett's jeep, starting the drive to Port Angeles.

The day was, simply put, a summer day with friends. We went sightseeing as best as we could, mostly looking at whatever pretty houses we could find. We went to an early movie in which Alice, Rose and I spent the majority of the time actually watching the movie, and the boys talked about how stupid it was.

Needless to say, they received a few choice words.

"Ooh, look!" Alice squealed, pointing at the photo booths outside the cinema. She grabbed Jasper's hand and pushed in some money before pulling him inside. Rose and Emmett laughed at them; they had several photo booth films of each other from their dates out here.

"Come on, Bella!" Edward said happily, dragging me toward an empty booth. I shook my head at him, smiling brightly. He managed to push me in, however, leaving me sitting on the inside while he filled it up with money. He sat down next to me and pulled the curtain across, beaming at me with the widest, happiest eyes I'd ever seen, I couldn't help but laugh.

One flash.

We fell together in laughter at being caught off guard.

Another flash.

I let out a deep sigh and looked up at him, at the same time he leaned in towards me. Our lips were dangerously close. All trace of mirth left my face as I stared at his lips.

Another flash.

Edward reached out a hand and cupped my face. I didn't do anything to stop him as he leaned in slowly and I felt his lips brush mine.

Another flash.

The sensation was amazing. I felt a rush move through me, a pure wave of something I'd never felt before. I rose up, moving closer to Edward as I pushed my lips closer to his. Our mouths fell open together and I felt his tongue slip in to my mouth. I gasped at the sensation and reciprocated feverishly.

The final flash.

We hardly noticed it; our mouths were moving at an alarming pace. Suddenly I realized I needed to come up for air. I broke away from him and looked at his flushed, _beautiful_ face. I placed my hand over my tingling lips and let go of his shoulder. I stumbled off of his lap and outside the photo booth.

Emmett and Rosalie were a little busy with each other, and Alice and Jasper had gone in for a second round of photos. I watched as our pictures shot out and grabbed up the film. Edward came out looking at me apologetically.

"Bella, I'm sorry," he began. "I know that wasn't what you wanted, I just—"

"Here," I said, ripping off the first two photos. "Some for you and some for me." I pocketed the rest, vowing to burn them as soon as possible.

"Bella," Edward tried again but I walked into the Jeep and strapped myself in. He waited outside for the others.

I snuck a glance at the pictures and let out a sigh. We looked like we were made to be together. We looked like we belonged together. I tried to ignore the pang in my chest.

Everyone filed into the car and Edward didn't say a word to me. I focused on how his knee was brushing against mine as we pulled out of a drive through, and then I had food and the ride home to concentrate on, instead of the pictures burning in my pocket.

What I couldn't ignore was how fast my heart was beating, and how it wouldn't slow down.

_And as the summer's ending,  
The cool air will rush your hard heart away._


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry this took a little while to get out! **

**Good news though; tuesday past I passed in my last piece of term work for this semester! Now it's just time to study and then on the 19th I'll be back home and writing full time!**

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**Hope you enjoy this one, I think it's kind of cute!  
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Chapter Six:**

Carlisle was a sight to behold the next day I was working with him. He had a smile plastered onto his face the entire shift, and occasionally I would find him zoned out with the goofiest grin on his face.

To be honest, he and Mom were acting pretty similar. The only problem was I _knew_ why Carlisle was acting that way- Mom hadn't told me anything about her sudden change in moods. Not that she was an unpleasant person; it was nice to see her smiling day in and day out. Bad days didn't faze her anymore, and this newfound optimism was wearing off on me, I hoped.

I needed it.

"Carlisle, could you pass me the stickers?" I asked, holding out my hand while I poked through the box of books at my feet. A few moments passed and he still hadn't done anything so I looked up to see him staring at nothing, yet again. This was the fifth time I'd caught him distracted from his work by remembering the night they had.

"Carlisle!" I shouted, abruptly snapping him out of whatever haze he was in. He jumped and looked at me terrified.

"What did you yell at me for?!"

"Pass me the stickers," I sighed. He did so and hauled a box of books in between his legs and we began slapping the 'new release' stickers on them. "Should I even ask how your date was?" I asked with a smirk.

"It was the most fantastic time of my life!" he gushed immediately, forgetting all about the box at his feet. "When I picked her up she looked absolutely gorgeous, and she had a baby sitter for Johnathan and everything. I brought her to Port Angeles and we had a lovely dinner and then we just went back to her house and watched a movie. Johnathan woke up when she was on the phone so I went in to put him to bed and he just smiled and chatted and went right back to sleep."

I giggled. "Get in good with the kid and you're all set to go!" Carlisle laughed with me.

"I really need to stop being such a girl about it, but I really can't stop thinking about Esme. She agreed to go out with me again next week."

"That's great Carlisle! I can tell that she definitely likes you. I mean, I've never seen someone shop for so many books." Carlisle froze and thought for a moment.

"Do you think that's why they come here a lot?" He asked. I shrugged.

"I'd do it if I didn't already know you!" He laughed with me again. "I was wondering if I could ask you something though. You're the only 'adult' I know who wouldn't completely flip a lid at me for asking."

"Sure, go ahead," Carlisle said, picking at the books in boxes.

"I have a friend that I really like, who also happens to have an enormous crush on me," I thanked my lucky stars that hardly any of my friends came around the store, and that Edward didn't act like a complete idiot the few times he came in. "The thing is, he always asks me out, but I say no because I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work. We accidentally kissed though, and now I don't really know what to do..."

"Did you feel anything in the kiss?" Carlisle asked calmly, not even fazed by my silly problems.

"Well, yeah, I mean... he's a good looking guy and I guess I didn't _hate_ the kiss..."

"Bella, I think that you actually do like him, and you're just denying yourself any happiness by pursuing him. You're basically just living in the mindset that you're not good enough for him, even though he clearly likes you. I think you should just give it up and go out with him. Even if it's just one date. You might find you enjoy it."

I frowned at him and picked up my box to go fill up a display shelf. "That wasn't the answer I was looking for," I grumbled. Carlisle laughed lightly.

"I know, but it was the truth!"

When the sky was burning with orange and red light we finally got to close the store. It was past nine, and still light out. This was why I loved the summer so much, you could stay out all day and it would bleed into the night.

Carlisle and I walked outside together and I locked the door behind us. He walked around back to throw away the trash and I stood there, waiting for him to come back for a final goodbye before we both drove home. I grinned at him as he came around the side of the building, still with a huge smile on his face. His ecstasy was never going to wear off, it seemed. Just when I was about to call out a goodnight we heard a car horn beeping and we both froze and turned around.

A shiny new silver Volvo pulled into the parking lot, right up beside me and the horn beeped again. I looked at it with an expression that I'm sure was close to fright. Carlisle walked up next to me casually, his hands in his pockets and we both looked at the car in front of us.

"Hey!" a familiar cheerful voice called. Edward stepped out of the car on the other side and grinned at us happily. His hair was in disarray, as usual, but the smile on his face looked like it was painful, that was how wide it was. My own face immediately broke into a grin when I saw him.

"What is this?" I asked, motioning to the vehicle he'd just climbed out of.

"My parents just got it for me for my birthday!" He said happily. My heart skipped a beat as I realised I didn't know when his birthday was and I apparently missed it.

"I forgot your birthday?" I said quietly. Edward chuckled and shook his head as he walked to the other side of the car to be closer to me.

"It's alright, I never told you when it was. It was actually last month." The grin on his face was so cute and easy going that I found myself smiling once again. Then I realised how this must look. "I came to see if you wanted to go for a ride with me!"

"Sure!" I said happily, swinging my back higher on my shoulder. I looked to my side to see Carlisle, watching us and grinning knowingly to himself. He looked at me and winked before waving and walking off to his own shiny car. Now he knew, I'd bet.

Edward held open the door as I climbed into the car and then he hurried over to the driver's side. He grinned at me again as he strapped himself in and turned the key.

We were off in a shot; to say he drove fast would be an understatement.

"Slow down!" I screeched. He laughed but obliged, slowing down to twenty over the speed limit. We drove around town for a while, since the town was so small it took less than a half an hour. Edward would test my nerves by pulling stupid tricks and I would punch him in the arm until he stopped.

I may be a girl, but I was pretty sure it was going to bruise.

"Where do you want to go now?" He asked as we passed a central part of town where it was slightly more populated.

"Let's just go home and watch a movie, or something," I said quietly, staring out a window. Then I saw something that made my heart jump.

"Pull in there, quick!" I said, pointing to a restaurant we were about to pass. Edward quickly turned into the parking lot and came to a stop.

"What are we looking for?" He asked confused. I pointed ahead of us where my mother was dressed up fancier than I'd ever seen her and walking into the restaurant with a man I barely recognized.

"She's on a date!" I hissed. Edward pulled into a parking spot and we waited for a few minutes after my mother had gone inside before we stepped out of the car.

"What are we doing exactly?" He asked hesitantly as I started to jog up to the door. I stopped and turned around to him.

"I don't really know," I said, though it sounded more like a question. Edward put his hands in his pockets and stood very closely to me. My stomach flipped, as I realised that this was the closest we had been since the photo booth. He'd never mentioned anything about the kisses we'd shared and for that I was thankful.

"How about this," he started. "I can tell you're really curious about what your mom is doing, so we will go in there, sit down and eat, and just take note if anything is out of place, alright?" I grinned widely and nodded, grabbing his hand and pulling him in with me.

"Table for two?" A hostess asked immediately when we walked in. I nodded and smiled at her politely, searching the tables for my mother and her date.

"Excuse me," Edward said very politely, taking hold of the hostess' arm. "There is a woman in here that we'd like not to see us, if it's at all possible." He pointed out my mother to the hostess and she nodded, smiling at Edward in a way I did not approve of. Was that not a wedding ring on her finger?

People these days.

She took us to sit behind Renee in a booth and we managed to get in without me stumbling over myself and causing a scene.

"Your waitress will be with you in a moment," she said happily.

"Oh, this was a bad idea," I said suddenly. "I just realised that I left my wallet in my car." Edward shrugged.

"I'll pay, it's no big deal. Let's say this is that date I asked for that first night. No problem at all." I grinned at him and we both laughed, but pretty soon I was consumed with making sure my mother's date was going okay.

"I can't believe she's seeing the baseball coach," Edward mumbled.

"He's too young for her," I argued. "He only just started here this year."

"Coach Dwyer's an alright guy," Edward tried softly.

"Yeah, that's what you think. You didn't almost take him out with a bat. He loves you, his secret weapon." Edward grinned at me and shrugged.

"Hi," an extremely annoying voice said. "What can I get you guys today? Oh... Bella?" I looked up and to my absolute horror was met with the face of none other than Jessica Stanley, my arch nemesis.

Well, I guess nemesis is a bit of a strong word.

I just _really _didn't like this girl.

I mean, would you like someone who was kissing your ass and then talking about you the very second you turned your back? No. Didn't think so.

"Hey, Jess, how's it going?" I asked, attempting to be polite.

"Pretty good!" she gushed. "How's your summer been?"

"Not too bad," I mumbled. "Just been working and hanging out with my friends." Jessica cast a very obvious look in Edward's direction.

"Is this one of your friends?" She asked blatantly, smiling at Edward in a way that I'm assuming was meant to be attractive. He was watching Renee and Phil for me, though.

"Yeah," I said reluctantly. "This is Edward, he's new in town." Edward looked up at Jessica and smiled. Of course he would, it was the polite, friendly thing to do, and those were two words that fit Edward to a t. He held out his hand to shake hers.

"Nice meeting you," he said in that overly happy tone of voice he used. The tone of voice that I hated after the first night I met him, but now it made me giddy.

"I'm Jessica," she said, her voice lowering and obviously she was attempting to be alluring.

Just look at the guy.

I would have taken a shot at alluring if he wasn't my best friend and if alluring wouldn't wind up with me in the emergency room.

She looked like she was about to say something else when Edward snatched a menu from the table and opened it up. "Can I just order like... the _biggest_ ice cream sundae you have?" I snorted out a laugh and immediately tried to hide behind my hands.

"You don't want anything like, supper first?" Jessica asked a little confused. He shook his head vehemently.

"No, just the biggest hot fudge sundae you can get, with brownies or something in it." I couldn't believe him. He was clearly trying to get rid of her as easily as possible. Jessica nodded and wrote it down, although she looked a bit confused.

"Can I get you anything Bella?" she asked politely, obviously thinking he was a weirdo, no matter how good looking he was. She was right.

I was about to order something real to eat when Edward cut me off.

"No, Bella doesn't need anything. We're going to share that huge sundae, it'll be romantic." He shot me a wink and I glared, my cheeks turning a flaming red. Jessica nodded and frowned, but scampered back to the kitchen, where she should stay.

"Why are you getting ice cream?" I asked him tiredly.

He shrugged. "It's really warm tonight and I haven't had a proper summer ice cream yet, so I thought I'd share with you!" I rolled my eyes and looked over at my mother again.

Her face was lit up with absolute happiness. Her smile was wider than I'd seen it with anyone besides myself and Carlisle. I found myself smiling as she laughed with Phil, noticing how he pointed out food stuck on her face shamelessly. It made me smile to see them like that so easy with each other.

My mother looked _so_ happy. So what else could I do but approve of the maybe-a-little-too-young gym coach.

"Here you go, you guys!" Jessica said happily, plopping an ice cream monstrosity in front of us. Edward's eyes widened so big I thought he might explode. Kid in candy store symptom. "Can I get you _anything _ else?" she asked him, trying to sound husky as she leaned down and actually pushed her chest out. He shook his head and picked up a spoon.

"I'll see you around then," Jessica said, giving him a wink when he finally looked up at her. Edward waved politely as she walked away, but only because his mouth was full.

Hot fudge sundae with chunks of brownies and peanuts, just like he requested.

The boy could swoon his way into anything, clearly.

I figured that as long as we were sitting here, spying on my mother I might as well enjoy to ice cream, so I dug into my half of it.

Edward and I talked lightly over the dessert, as we always did. Every now and then we'd stop and look at my mother, and he'd eye me to see what I thought about it. When I told him I approved he grinned and held out a spoonful of ice cream to me.

I told him to get a life.

We picked at the dish together until there was just one big chunk of brownie fudge ice cream goodness left in the middle.

I swear I fell for him even worse than I had when he let me have it.

What a great guy.

Edward drove me back to the book shop before my mother left the restaurant, and I followed him home, marvelling at his car on the road.

It really was a nice machine.

We pulled into our respective driveways and met halfway across the lawn. It seemed such a natural thing for us to do, to be together. In the end, however, we didn't really know why we met halfway. It was just what we did.

"I guess I'll go in and get ready for bed," I said softly. "It's going to be a warm night." He nodded and smiled at me.

"Good night, Bella," he said gently. And then he did the one thing I hoped he wouldn't. His warm hand found a place on my forearm where he held loosely as he leaned in and left a soft, lingering kiss on my cheek.

The intimacy of his touch on both my arm and my cheek sent a rush of heat over my face. When I saw the intensity of his eyes the only thing I knew to do was duck my head and turn around, heading inside and lying in bed in the sticky heat.

My cheek tingled for the hours that I lay awake.


	7. Chapter 7

**Way to go me, this chapter is 13 pages long!  
I have twitter and dailybooth, and a community called Decent which you guys should all go join  
There's a poll up deciding which stories will be updated before which stories, so you guys should go check that out.  
I'm going to update Hot off the Presses next, so look for that on Brunettezki's page either tomorrow or the day after, I haven't been doing much since I've been home. Aside from writing.**

**My reader population has dropped so much that I have been quite the glum chum lately. So, I am trying to win everyone back by continuing the fast updates.  
This chapter is for lauradean, LaTraviata, Brunettezki, and Lupus for listening to me whine the past couple days.  
Hope you guys enjoy this ridiculou chapter, since it is mostly fluff!  
**

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Chapter Seven:**

I hadn't spoken to Edward in about three days. He worked long shifts those three days, and I went in to the book store to cover for Carlisle and his many dates with Esme so that when Edward _did_ get work off we could just hang out without worrying about getting enough sleep.

They brought Jonathan in once to pick up one of Carlisle's favourite books when he was a kid. I finally got introduced to Esme and on the whole, I approved.

On the third day of not speaking to Edward by accident, I decided to stay inside and not die of heat stroke. This was such an uncharacteristically dry summer; I knew it was building up to some big storm.

I sat in the window seat in my room, the window opened just a crack while I flicked through the pages of _Sense and Sensibility._ A cool breeze blew through the window and I was thankful for it against my mostly bare legs. My shorts weren't doing much to keep me cool. I pushed my hair out of my face to see if I could cool down any more.

I heard a car on the street and reflexively looked outside.

I didn't expect to see Jessica Stanley's car pulling in next door. And I definitely didn't expect to see her waltz out of the car in a barely there skirt and tank top and stomp up to the front door in heels that by all means should be registered as weapons of mass destruction.

I clenched my teeth and felt my eyebrow furrow as I kept watching outside, wishing so badly that no one would be home- no one would answer the door, and she'd just have to stumble back to her car like a dejected puppy.

But she didn't come back.

Which meant that she was invited inside.

I let out a snort in disappointment and looked back to my book, but I couldn't get over the anger I was feeling.

And then I suppose I realised it wasn't exactly anger- it was more like jealousy. I'd kept the Masen family to myself so well that I didn't want to share them with the rest of Forks. It was stupid, I know. But I was convinced that I didn't deserve a friend like Edward, and the only reason he was so interested in me was because he didn't know anyone else. I wanted to keep him with me, and keep our friendship as long as I could before September, when he'd undoubtedly become the most popular kid in highschool.

He probably knew that too, that when school started he'd be so distracted with all the other kids he would forget me. Maybe that was why he didn't say a thing about our kisses.

I shook my head again and glared out the window. She still hadn't come out, and I'd been berating myself for a good three minutes.

Get out.

Get... out.

...

Getoutgetoutgetout.

They're my friends, please don't ruin this summer for me, Jessica.

"Why do you look so tormented?" My favourite deep voice said from behind me. I jumped in fright and clutched the seat to look at him.

He was leaning in my doorway, all big smiles and sweaty hair. His t shirt was thin and dirty, definitely something he'd grabbed last minute. I noticed his uniform in his hand from work.

Edward cocked his head to the side and smiled at me crookedly. "Really though, you're looking very serious." He walked across the room like a flash, it seemed, and before I knew it he was leaning over me to look out the window.

Oh, God.

Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.

ohGodohGodohGodddddd....

I was only wearing a small pair of shorts and a ratty tank top that had somehow ridden up my stomach while I'd been slouched in the window.

And now here was this perfect human specimen pinning me beneath him while he looked out my window. His chest is right there, looking solid and muscular, and his jaw is right there, the exact jaw that I wanted to reach up and kiss.

He looked so strong, and he was far too close for me in my Austen romance induced haze.

Despite the fact that he was sweaty and dirty from work he still smelt so deliciously Edward.

"Oh, I see what it is," he murmured finally, and the rumble of his voice had my cheeks turning bright red. He finally pushed off of me and simply stood next to me while I tried to pull down my shirt and act like he hadn't completely turned me on.

"Jessica decided to introduce herself to my mom and Alice. Lucky for me I was already heading out the side door so I managed to avoid it and come here to see my favourite girl instead!" He grinned at me, like it was that simple.

"I'm going to go home and take a shower, we're all heading down to First Beach, so you should get ready and then come over, alright? It's the first day we've all had off in a long time." I smiled at him and nodded, not trusting my voice to speak as he walked away.

When my door shut behind him I let out a big sigh and a groan. Jessica Stanley walked back to her car quickly, looking quite upset and drove away fast.

I watched as Jasper's car pulled up and Alice skipped across her lawn. She opened the door, said something to him and laughed, but then turned at looked up at my window. I pushed it open farther and stuck my head outside.

"Bella don't you even dare think of wearing a one piece, okay?" she hollered. I laughed but she looked deadly. "Wear the nice one that Rosalie and I picked out for you, it'll look really good, I promise!"

"Alright Alice, don't worry." She waved happily before sliding in the car and then they tore down the street.

I quickly changed into the blue bikini that Alice was talking about. Hopefully I could get away with not actually swimming, so I put my shorts and tank top back on top. I grabbed an old yellow pull over sweater in case it cooled off before we went home, and slipping on low rise converse I stepped out of my door.

Time to start enjoying my summer vacation.

Edward's house was empty when I walked up to it so I dropped my sweater inside his car and picked up some pebbles to throw at his window in true movie fashion.

My hand was empty by the time he finally flung open the window, looking thoroughly irritated. When he saw me however his face brightened.

"What do you want!" he hollered.

"Hurry up!" I called. "Alice and Jasper left already." He laughed and retreated. Not before, of course, I noticed the tiny beads of water glittering on his bare chest and the towel loosely wrapped around his waist.

I stood next to his car, waiting while he dressed. I fished my keys out of my pocket, and before I knew what I was doing I'd nicked the paint next to the window an infinitesimal amount. But just doing that made me feel better.

It made me feel like I had a permanent mark on something that was his, something that would always have a part of me. I knew it was too tiny for him to notice, and I'd probably never be able to find it again, but putting my mark on something like that was an act I took comfort in.

Edward walked out the door while I was day dreaming, and I had to take in just how nice he looked. He wore black swimming shorts and a white v-neck t shirt. He struggled to get his sneakers on his feet while balancing a cooler under one arm and pulling out his car keys with the other hand.

I laughed and walked up to him, taking the cooler so that he could pull on his shoes. His hair was still wet, and hung down in front of his face adorably. When I walked up to him he shook his head, flicking me with small droplets of water. I ran away from him, trying not to stumble with the heavy cooler in my hands and put it in the back seat.

Edward smiled at me as he opened my door and seeing the look on his face made my own happiness bubble up and I grinned at him stupidly. When he slid into the driver's seat he immediately tossed me his iPod. I fished out the transmitter and set everything up while he backed out of the driveway and started down the street.

I was so enveloped in my task as shotgun that by the time I finished setting up the iPod and selecting the appropriate summer driving song I didn't realise that Edward pulled into a convenience store and had hopped out of the car.

I looked up confused at the empty lot and nearly jumped out of my skin when he stuck his head in my window.

"Do you want any snacks?" He was grinning widely, of course because he knew he frightened me. He knew me better than anyone.

"A Butterfinger," I sighed in frustration. He nodded and walked towards the store. "And corn chips!" I yelled out.

Edward is an angel who understand how frustrating it can be for people to wait in a car while other people have the fun of shopping, so through the tiny window of the convenience store I saw him picking things off of shelves and from freezers and fridges and before I knew it he was jogging back towards the car with his hands full of bags.

"Pop the trunk," he called. I got outside to meet him and I manned the trunk while he filled up the cooler with drinks and hot dogs. I noticed he had old woollen blankets in his trunk and also a change of clothes.

When we got back in the front he made a point of flicking me with water and then holding on to my neck with his freezing fingers.

"You are a jerk," I said, turning on the music and facing away from him. He pulled onto the highway and I could feel the car speeding up. I clutched onto my own arms tightly, not wanting to uncross them because he would certainly laugh if he saw me grabbing the door in fear.

"Bella," Edward sang gently. I felt a hand trying to pull my arms apart. "Please don't be mad with me, Bella."

I turned to him with every intention of glaring at him and instead found him staring at the road ahead, and his bottom lip was stuck out in such a cute pout that one short laugh escaped me.

He glanced at me quickly and the furrowed eyebrow and pouty lip disappeared when he saw the humour in my face.

So instead of having pretend fights we sang and laughed the rest of the drive to the beach.

When we pulled into the parking lot we discovered that we had somehow managed to be the first ones there.

Edward shrugged at me while he pulled the cooler from the back seat and I grabbed the blankets and the rest of the snacks from the trunk. We both stumbled down the beach until we'd found an old fire pit left behind from the last people who'd been there. Edward set down the cooler and little farther away and stuck it into the wet sand tightly.

I laid out a blanket near the fire pit and discovered some towels hiding underneath one. The extra blankets and towels I designated to hang out by the cooler.

"There's not much to do while we're waiting for everyone, is there," I commented to Edward. He was busy trying to arrange our little campout and nearly rammed into me when he turned around. I lost my breath when he grabbed onto my hips in order to dodge around me. My cheeks immediately reddened.

Edward didn't notice at all, of course. The idiot.

He threw a towel over the bags of snacks and when he looked satisfied with his work he looked at me with a smile.

"Let's go looking for some wood for this fire, hey?" I nodded and smiled at him. He held onto my arm and squeezed it lightly as he walked past, and even though it was such an insignificant motion my cheeks heated up again.

Edward and I walked lazily along the beach. Sometimes we drifted apart to fetch different pieces of wood. At one point we both had small handfuls and were at nearly completely different ends of the beach picking at bigger pieces.

I started dragging back a gigantic gnarled piece of driftwood with wood piled in one arm up to my chin.

I dropped all of the wood in my hand on top of the ashes and left the huge piece off to the side.

Then I just collapsed in the sand and yelled.

Edward yelled back from somewhere along the beach.

"What are you two whining about?!" I heard a voice call from behind me. I tilted my head back and saw our other four friends walking down towards us.

"Awesome," Rosalie said while casting an appreciative glance over the wood I'd collected. "We can have a bonfire tonight after the food's cooked." I propped myself on my elbows and looked up to see Edward heading back to us, dragging another piece of wood behind him with about twice as much in his arms.

I jumped up and jogged to him, only stumbling once and pried the driftwood from his hands. We started walking towards the others while walking side by side and my skin tingled when he placed a hand on the small of my back.

"Have you ever seen a driftwood fire?" I asked him, involuntarily stepping closer when Jasper nearly ran into me.

"No, not really. The only bonfires Alice and I ever had were in our backyard."

"Boy are you guys in for a treat," Emmett said with the most gigantic grin on his face. I noticed that he'd brought a bit of kindling and starter fluid, and I was a bit worried he'd start acting like a pyromaniac.

"Don't worry," Rosalie said, taking a seat in the sand next to me. "I'll make sure he doesn't kill us all in a fire." I laughed with her and took the bottle of sunscreen she was holding out to me.

While Rosalie and Alice stripped down to their bikinis, I looked around nervously and hoped to god they were just going to sun bathe and not force me to swim. I'd much rather stick to my clothes than my not-really-there clothes.

So that was why when I was helping Rosalie cover her back in sunscreen and fighting off Emmett from taking up the task, I got really nervous when I noticed Jasper was pulling off his shoes and shirt.

And it wasn't long until Emmett pulled off his as well.

And I didn't want to look at Mr. Masen.

So, when Rosalie covered Emmett in sunscreen, and Alice and Jasper helped each other with their sun protection, I kept my eyes focused on the towels lying around the sand.

"Bella?" Alice asked. "You're going to come swimming, right?" I started to hesitate, because now that she was asking, now that it was confirmed that everyone was going because Edward just walked in front of me with not a whole lot of clothes on- now it was impossible to avoid.

"Yeah, I guess so," I mumbled. The smile on her face looked so happy that I knew I had to see this through.

"Can you give me a hand?" Edward asked completely innocently and holding a bottle on sunscreen. My cheeks reddened again and I barely nodded while he turned around.

Don't think about how muscular his back is.

Don't think about how much you love running your hands on it.

Think about skin cancer and what a shame it would be for him to have it.

Think about a nasty, blistering sun burn he could get that would put him in a severely bad mood.

Aw, shit. You thought about his gorgeous body, didn't you.

My hands shook and no matter what, the images of rotting, burning skin didn't stop me from thinking about how much I really liked touching Edward Masen's bare back. He has really cute dimples around the top of his shorts...

"Okay you're done," I said, my voice cracking slightly. He turned around and smiled before starting to apply the lotion to the rest of his body.

I hated my friends more in that moment than I ever did, because when I looked around they were already running into the ocean water. Which meant, I was left alone to take off my clothes in front of Edward.

I realised I was standing there staring at him while he rubbed his chest so I turned around and quickly unzipped my shorts and pulled my shirt over my head. I nearly fell over while taking off my sneakers, but then it was done, and I was just standing there in a bikini.

God I hoped I looked good.

I turned around with every intention of asking him for some sunscreen and then calmly putting it on but he was staring at me with lidded eyes and his lips slightly parted.

He looked like he was struck and in shock. He took a shuddering step towards me and I took one back.

"God, Bella... you..." he finally stopped staring at my neck and letting his eyes wander all over to look me in the eye. "You look really good," he finally whispered.

"Thank you," I said, holding out my hand. He squirted some lotion in my hand and I covered my arms and legs before getting some more for my chest and stomach.

Here was the bad part.

How was I going to do my back by myself? While I was thinking it over I felt a warm hand touch my neck and I jumped, whirling around to see Edward standing behind me, grinning sheepishly.

"Sorry," he murmured. "I just thought I'd give you a hand." I just nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I clenched my eyes and tried not to think how great it was that his hands were on my bare back, and how much I liked the way they felt- they were strong and warm, and moved well over my skin.

"Bella?" Edward asked softly when he was moving my hair off my shoulders. "I'm done. Want to go for a swim?" I nodded, barely and we walked down the beach together.

When we reached the water- surprisingly not entirely freezing cold, he gave me a push and I stumbled forward into a wave. I turned around to face him and his stupid laughing face with my mouth hanging open. When I lunged at him he ran past me into the water.

No way was Edward Masen getting away with reckless frivolity. He would pay. And payment would mean I'd have to touch him. Go me.

I ran past him as best I could in the water until I was somewhat close to him. Then I dove, grabbed onto his sides and pulled him down in the water with me. I kept my eyes closed, waited for when we'd break the surface. When we did I heard laughter and wiped my hair out of my eyes to see our friends laughing at us. They were still mostly dry.

Then I heard Edward's deep chuckle, just as I stood up in the water. He grabbed me from behind and I let out a shriek as he scooped me up, slung me over his shoulder and started walking into deeper water.

"Edward! Don't you dare!" I yelled, pounding on his back. He just laughed. Then, he started to throw me. I held on tightly and he lost his centre of balance, falling into the water with me.

When we broke through the surface we were both laughing and Edward held me close to his chest while he stumbled to stand up.

All I could concentrate on was my body pressed against him. All I could think of was his hand on my back pressing my chest into his chest, and how there was water running over his skin that was making him look far too attractive.

All I could see were his lips, and all I could notice was how his eyes were lowered to mine.

So I let him kiss me, softly. And, I kissed him back. It wasn't for very long, but it felt good while it lasted. When we pulled away he smiled at me softly and brushed a piece of hair from my face.

My stomach was a tangled mess of nerves. I decided to get his eyes off of me by pointing out how dry our friends were. He laughed and we both walked towards them, jumping whoever we could and knocking them in the water.

Alice and Rosalie shrieked while Jasper and Emmett tried in vain to keep Edward under the water.

Basically, we wasted a couple of hours running in and out of the water. Emmett insisted that the girls climb on the guys' shoulders and then push each other off. The girls insisted that was a stupid idea.

When the sun was starting to get a little bit low in the sky we decided it was time to end the watery fun. It was still warm, but it would cool off soon.

We all decided to lie around our fire while Emmett started it up. Jasper fished out drinks for everyone and passed around snacks. Rosalie and Alice donned their sunglasses and immediately started bathing in the rays, hoping to improve their pale skin. I pulled on my shorts and leant back on my elbows while Edward lay next to me, his head close to my waist while he let the sun dry him.

He awkwardly took a drink from a can Jasper passed him and stuck his hand in my bag on corn chips.

"Hey!" someone called from down the beach. I looked over my shoulder to see some of the Quileute boys from the reservation. One of them was waving enthusiastically and I recognized him as Jacob Black, a friend of the family, and one of my good friends. I waved at him and then turned back to look at Edward, lying with his eyes closed and one arm lazily scratching his chest.

His eyelashes were really beautiful against his cheeks.

I heard vibrating and Edward hit a hand lazily against my hip, so I checked under his shirt and found his cell phone.

"Hello? Oh hey Renee. Yeah, Bella's with me," he said sweetly, glancing up at me. "Yeah, the whole gang's down on First Beach. We're going to cook up some supper, have a bonfire, maybe do some star gazing and then I'll have her home. Not a problem. She'll be home before midnight. Yeah, I think star gazing is a romantic idea too. Night, Renee. See you tomorrow." He hung up his phone and I was vaguely aware of my mouth hanging open.

"Your mom," he murmured like an idiot. He winked at me and reached over my waist to set his phone back on his shirt. He made a point of sliding his arm and hand over my stomach before he laid back down, closing his eyes.

I sighed harshly and his lips curled up in a grin.

"Hey there, Bella!" Jacob said happily, plopping down next to me with a cloud of sand.

"Hey, Jacob. Good to see you again," I replied with a smile. Edward rolled over onto his side, facing me and propped his head up on his elbow. I took a moment to appreciate the faint lines of his abs before turning back to Jake.

"Jacob Black, this is my best friend Edward Masen. Edward, this is my friend Jacob." The two boys greeted each other and shook hands. I sat up straighter so it looked less like I was separating them. Edward sat up too and motioned for me to pass him his shirt. He pulled it on quickly and when I went looking for mine I noticed it next to the cooler, which Embry, another Quileute boy, managed to knock over.

All of the melted ice soaked through my shirt. Emmett called Embry an idiot and I pouted at the fact that while everyone was sitting around mostly dressed, I was stuck there in not much clothes.

Edward noticed what I was upset about and just smiled at me. "One second," he murmured. He stood up and started jogging towards the parking lot.

"What brings you guys down here tonight?" I asked Jacob. He shrugged.

"We were going to go surfing but the wind died down, so we wound up just walking," he said with a grin. I nodded.

"I'd invite you to our fire but it appears Embry and Sam invited themselves," I said, motioning towards the two boys who were roasting hot dogs over the flames. Jacob laughed.

"Yeah, it looks like it. We also brought a volleyball, if you guys want to play..." I cringed.

"Not sure about myself but I'm sure the others would. Maybe it'll be Forks boys against Res boys?" Jacob winked.

"You know who'd win that one." We both laughed. Edward sat down next to me suddenly with a smile. He passed me his t shirt that I had seen in his trunk and I pulled it on with a small thank you. In his hands was also my yellow sweater for when it got cooler.

"What do you think, Ed? How about my guys against yours?" To emphasize his point he spun the volley ball in his hands. Edward grinned and stood up, snatching the ball from his hands.

"It's Edward, and I think you've got yourself a game." Jacob grinned and the boys all cheered.

Alice Rosalie and I decided to man the fire, making food for everyone. We watched with amusement as the boys tried to figure out what to use as a net, and after Emmett produced a rather long piece of kelp, Jasper point out two long piece of driftwood. They dug small holes and propped them up, agreeing that it had to be over the top of the wood to count.

Then the game began.

I may or may not have burnt a couple of hot dogs by watching the Edward's muscles ripple when he dove for the ball. Edward would set Jasper, and then he'd pummel that ball onto the other side with such force the three boys actually dove out of the way. Emmett served like a pro and basically punched the ball whenever it reached him.

"So Bella," Rosalie said slyly, sitting next to me as I salvaged a few black dogs. "You and Edward seem a bit closer lately."

"I blushed, but it was barely distinguishable from the heat the flames provided in my face.

"It's nothing. I mean, we're always together. We hardly see you guys..." I hoped that sounded reasonable.

"I guess so," Alice murmured. "I mean, I _do_ enjoy my time with Jasper. But Edward's been on cloud nine since he got here."

"Yeah, well Edward has a ridiculous crush on me and he's just happy I don't think he's a complete stalker." They both seemed to think about it and then nodded. I was right, of course.

By the time the sun went down and they could barely get out of the way of the ball before it hit them in the head (oh hey Emmett), we had managed to cook up a plate of hot dogs and were ripping open a bag of marshmallows since we had finished eating.

I'd pulled on my sweater and grabbed a plate, dishing up food for Edward and I to share. He slumped down next to me and was all smiles and he squeezed me close to him in a bone crushing hug.

"I won," he said quietly, his face filled with happiness. I giggled.

"Congratulations. Here's your reward." I passed him a hot dog and he bit into it, tearing the piece in his mouth from that in his hand. I laughed harder and he let out a loud sigh, smiling so widely he could barely chew.

We all sat around the fire, exchanging stories and eating, laughing happily. I took a moment to look around at everyone. Rosalie and Emmett, lying across each other- Jasper and Alice who was sitting between his legs while he held onto her. The boys from the res looked so at ease as they joked and talked to us.

Edward was leaning next to me, one arm behind my back so that our shoulders were touching as well as our legs. We were so close, and I wanted to do nothing to stop it.

When the boys decided it was time to leave we all said goodbye. Edward and Jacob shook hands, and they made us promise to come down again soon. I smiled as they walked away, thinking that this day couldn't get any better.

"Edward and Alice," Emmett announced, hopping up from where he sat. "Prepare to feast your eyes on something _amazing_."

"Were jazz hands really necessary there?" Jasper criticised. We all laughed.

"Of course they were," I added. "What they are about to witness is nothing less than magic."

"If it works," Rosalie scoffed. "That wood might not be any good for it."

"What is going on?" Edward whispered in my ear. I turned to him and found his face extraordinarily close to mine.

"The idea," I murmured back, noticing again the fine lines of his jaw, "is that when the wood has really soaked in the salt water, and then dries out, there's salt left behind." Emmett threw in the two huge pieces of wood we'd dragged over earlier, and sure enough they burst into blue and green flames. "Then that happens," I said, watching the fire lick towards the sky.

"Wow," Edward murmured. The faces sitting around the fire were lit up, showing the same expression that we held. I let out a sigh and fell onto my back against the blanket. Edward laid down next to me and covered us up with a softer blanket. I smiled at him before looking back up at the sky and the stars that littered it.

"This is the romantic part," Edward stated. I grinned, knowing that Renee was sure to ask one or both of us about this particular aspect. Emmett started in on one of the old Quileute legends that Jacob had told us. Edward sneakily wrapped his arm around me, and I was so tired I let him, using his arm instead as a pillow.

I started to drift off to sleep, and was hoping Edward wouldn't notice entirely. I wiggled closer to him, taking in his body head. He tightened his arm around me, and when I sleepily opened my eyes to look at him I saw him smiling down at me.

_Whatever_. I sighed and wrapped an arm around him, resting my head on his chest.

"I was wondering when you'd finally come around," he murmured close to my ear.

"Shut up, I am tired and I am using you. You are just a tool." He laughed lightly and I was happy he didn't try to convince me I was head over heels for him.

Because I might have had to agree.

I must have passed out completely because when I woke up I was wrapped in blankets and held in Edward's arm while he carried me across the beach to his car.

"Don't," I managed to say groggily, still starting to wake up. I grabbed onto his neck and he held me closer. "I can walk I insisted." Edward laughed lightly.

"Don't be silly," he murmured. I barely saw Jasper and Alice packing up Edward's trunk and then I was seated in the front with the seat reclined as far back as it could. I passed out again straight away.

When I woke up next Edward was being let into my house by my mother and I was yet again in his arms as he climbed up the dark stairs. He pushed the door open to my room and set me gently on my bed. I noticed this time there weren't any blankets around me, so I started to nestle into my sheets.

"Whoa now," Edward said softly. I felt his fingers on my ankle, gently pulling my shoes off and then he was closer to me, leaning over the bed. I sat up as best as I could and stuck out my arms while he pulled off the sweater.

"Good night," I sighed out. My body was too heavy from sleep to do much else.

"Good night, Bella," he whispered. And then I felt his lips press against my forehead. I squeezed his hand and smiled at him before he quietly walked out of my room.

I spent days thinking about that day at the beach. Whenever I was out with Alice and Rose shopping, or just hanging out with Emmett and Jasper like the good ol' days, I found myself remembering the feel of Edward's body against mine in the water and on the sand. I remembered the way he kissed me in the water, how it wasn't as hot as the kiss in the photo booth, but it wasn't a gentle kiss on the cheek. I remembered the way he cared for me and tucked me into bed, kissing me lightly.

I forced myself not to care. He was my best friend, and I didn't want to ruin that.

But at the same time I wanted to make sure he would only be mine, even after school started.

It didn't help my mood any that Jessica Stanley drove up to his house everyday and left before Edward came over.

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**Review and let me know how you're liking this relationship- or tell me how much you hate Miss Stanley right nowww!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey there! Nice to see you all again! Now that The Lighthouse is finished I can devote my time to this story! Lucky for you guys, I find it a lot easier to write this one, and generally the chapters are twice as long!  
This chapter wasn't in the original outline, but somewhere in the middle of The Lighthouse I thought this up and thought it'd make for a good chapter!  
See, because I feel like writing AH fics is less like fanfiction and more like writing your own stories with the Twilight characters, I try to add aspects of the books which tie in to my storyline.**

**This chapter has a bit of New Moon, in honour of the excellent trailer for it!  
So, hope you enjoy this, look forward to more updates! Clandestine will be updated when this one is finished!  
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Chapter Eight:**

Edward and I hardly spoke for the next week. We had plans that weekend with the rest of the friends, but we were both so caught up with work that we barely got to hang out by ourselves. Jessica Stanley still showed up fairly frequently, but I always laughed when she discovered that Edward was already at work. She'd walk back to her car, kicking at the grass as she ignored the walking path, as usual.

Saturday afternoon was my last shift for a few days and the group of us had decided to go to Emmett's for a movie extravaganza. I slipped on a black cardigan over my colourful tank top while I practically fell out my front door and headed for the van.

"Morning," a voice croaked and I looked up to see Edward walking down his driveway in his uniform to his car.

"Hey," I said, not bothering to hide the concern in my voice. "Are you alright?" I asked. He sounded like shit, and he looked even paler than normal. Not to mention the ugly green polo shirt made him look a bit sickly.

He shook his head and tried to smile, but it basically looked more like he lifted the corners of his frown for a second. "I have been fighting the urge to throw myself off a cliff all morning because of how bad I feel." My brows furrowed and I jumped across the flower bed to face him. He dropped the handle of his car door and turned to face me. "Can I have a hug?" he said pathetically.

I laughed but nodded and pulled him to me tightly. Now usually whenever Edward found the chance to touch me like this he took advantage of it as much as he could, squeezing me tightly to him and lifting me off the ground. He's been known to spin me around, as well. But for this hug, _I_ was the one holding onto him for dear life while he arms barely made their way around my waist. I put my nose into the crook of his neck and breathed in before letting him go.

"Listen, if work seems too much for you, will you promise to go home? You're not working long today, are you?"

"No, just twelve to five."

"Okay, me too. If you want to go home early, _please_ ask and call me, I'll come get you. Don't worry about it alright?" He nodded, still looking sad. I reached up and kissed his cheek which managed to spark a real small from him for about a second before he climbed into his car and _slowly (_the speed limit) drove to work.

I pulled into the parking lot of the bookstore and unlocked the door before letting myself in. I easily set into my normal routine; taking out the money and recounting it, printing off sales totals from the night before for mom to look over tomorrow, putting on a pot of coffee and unlocking the doors to the other book rooms.

I was prepared for a quiet shift, since the only people that usually came in on the weekends were tourists passing through. I was pleasantly surprised, however, when Carlisle showed up, and not alone either.

"Hey there, Bella!" he called happily. I turned around and smiled, but that smiled even wider when I saw what was attached to his hip. Or rather, who.

"Why hello, Carlisle! And is this Jonathan I see again?" The little boy giggled and buried his face into Carlisle's chest. Carlisle's smile looked almost painful.

"Yeah, Esme got called away and needed someone quick. I was happy to pick the little guy up." I smiled and passed the boy a cookie I'd baked to go with the coffee. Jonathan thanked me politely and climbed into Carlisle's lap when he climbed into a wingback chair.

"And how is Miss Platt?" I asked with a grin. Carlisle immediately blushed. "I think I'll take that for my answer."

They stayed for about an hour. Carlisle showed Jonathan around the back and upstairs where we kept our over stock and the office. When Esme came they were tucked away in the kids room reading and playing with the stuffed animal.

"Good afternoon Bella!" Esme said with a smile as she walked up to the desk. "It's lovely to see you again." I smiled when she pulled me into a friendly hug. She was dressed in another killer vintage dress, and it definitely suited her.

"Same to you. Your little boy has been quite the charmer here today, though I'm sure Carlisle is a help, too," I said, remembering several ladies who had come in today fawning over the young man and his 'son'. Esme smiled but I noticed it didn't reach her eyes.

"Is anything wrong?" I asked her softly. She shook her head and that same sad smile showed again.

"It's nothing. It's just..." she sighed. "My ex boyfriend, Jonathan's father, tried to contact me today, which was why I had to leave today."

"Why does mentioning him have you so upset?" I asked. "I don't mean to pry, I mean..."

"No, it's fine." She let out a heavy breath and blew her bangs away from her forehead. "It's just... he's decided now that he'd like partial custody of Jonathan, and I don't want that at all. I mean, he has never once contributed in Jonthan's life, he lives out of state and when we were together..." she stopped again and leant against the counter, chewing on her lip angrily.

"Esme?"

"He hit me," she whispered. "Several times. Abused, I guess, is a better word. It's why I decided to move to Forks, you know? Quiet town, nothing too bad can happen here, right? It's a good place to start new. Jonathan never knew a father, and Charles is not one that I want him to know. I mean, what is he supposed to think if he's shipped out of state every few weeks to go live with some man he doesn't know? What does he do when that man starts pushing him to call him 'Daddy' and starts shoving some woman at him and insisting he call her 'Mommy'? What am I going to do if Charles starts to treat Jonathan the same way he treated me?"

She shook her head and rubbed her eyes, like she had a headache from having to deal with her ex today. "But Carlisle... he's amazing, you know?" She giggled and I couldn't help but join in.

"With several years of crushing on him under my belt, yes I do know." We laughed again.

"I really, really like him," she murmured. "And so does Jonathan. And he _loves _my boy. He's been such a good influence on him in such a short amount of time. You know, Jonathan slipped up the other day and called him Daddy to me? If we kept going, I think I could deal with him being gone to school during the week. I know he'd come home on weekends, and that wouldn't be so awful for Jonathan. Better than once a month, you know?"

I nodded. "So what are you going to do about Charles?" I asked.

"Fight him," she said with a grin. "When I met up with him today I told him there was no way I was letting him near my son. I gave him the phone number to my lawyer."

"Does Carlisle know?"

She shook her head. "We're supposed to go out tonight, but I think after Jonathan goes to bed I might just convince him to stay in so we can talk. I don't want to keep this from him. I... I love him, you know?"

I grinned and resisted the urge to giggle and jump up and down. "I am so happy to hear that, Esme." She smiled again.

We couldn't continue our conversation as Carlisle walked in with Jonathan tucked under his arm, giggling madly.

"Hey," he breathed, leaning in to kiss her sweetly. When he pulled away the smile on her face was infectious, and he pushed the blonde locks off his forehead while setting the boy on his feet. "Everything done?" she nodded and took his hand.

"We'll talk to you soon, Bella," Esme said, waving at me over her shoulder. I watched as Carlisle picked up Jonathan and then wrapped his arm tightly around Esme's waist as they walked out the store.

I spent the next two hours on a cloud from the happiness left behind by the lovely couple. I restocked shelves, added in inventory and did a full store clean up before the phone rang with the one call I was hoping I wouldn't get.

"Bella," Edward breathed when I answered, sounding worse than he had this morning.

"Edward?" I asked, immediately panicked at the sound of his voice. "Are you alright? How are you feeling?"

"Like shit," he laughed humourlessly. "Look, I know that you've still got half an hour left, and I wouldn't have asked if I could drive myself, but I have been in and out of the bathroom all day and I wanted to call you earlier but I didn't want to take you away from the store, and I don't even want to do it now, but you said to call—"

"Edward, stop. Slow down, and tell me what you want."

He swallowed audibly and breathed heavily into the phone. "I am too sick to drive myself home. And Emmett doesn't get off until seven. My boss has _told_ me to go home, but I need a ride..."

"Listen, you give me twenty minutes and I will be there. Just go out back and sit down and take a few deep breaths and I'll get Emmett to get you when I get there alright? Just hang on."

I hung up before he could protest and ran to the door, locking it and flipping the closed sign. I didn't want to leave the place in a complete shambles for tomorrow so I counted out a float for Mom to use and took it and the cash from today upstairs, stumbling once on the stairs and nearly losing all the change. I left it on her desk and grabbed my keys before running downstairs, turning off all the lights as I went. I'd explain to Renee tomorrow why none of the regular work was done.

I drove faster than I'd ever dared before until I was stopped in the Thriftway's parking lot, taking a handicapped space, too. I coughed into my shoulder while I walked into the store, slating the feeling in my stomach as nerves for poor Edward.

I automatically turned right into produce and saw Emmett strolling up the aisle, looking anything but busy.

"Emmett!" I called out, jogging to catch up to him (slipping and nearly falling when the vegetable mist came on). He turned and looked over his shoulder, managing to catch me mid slide when I caught myself on the celery.

"Hey, you're here, good," he said hurriedly, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me to my feet, marching me quickly towards the back. "Edward's waiting out back, I'll just go out and get him for you, okay?"

I was going to nod and say something but we both froze when we turned around a display of pickles. There, standing hunched over like he could collapse at any moment was Edward, with Jessica Stanley in front of him.

A thousand things ran through my head. Had he not gotten to go out back and sit down since I'd talked to him? Had she talked to him this entire time? Was she really so unaware to his health right now? Was that skirt even long enough to be called a mini skirt?

"Edward?" I called out, interrupting whatever brainless, mind numbing things Jessica was saying. He looked up and stood up a bit straighter looking a lot more than relieved to see me.

"So, anyway Edward, I was wondering if you'd like to go to a movie sometime? We could drive out to Port Angeles and go to dinner, too, since it's a bit of a trip." Edward looked like he wanted to be sick just listening to her.

What surprised us was when he actually was.

Emmett yelled and jumped out of the way, despite the fact that Edward was directed _at_ Jessica. Needless to say she's probably going to throw out those shoes.

Jessica shrieked and it echoed through the entire store. I was standing there with my eyes wide and my mouth even wider, resisting the urge to laugh in Jessica Stanley's over powdered face. Edward bent down, tucking his stomach close to his knees and looking like he was trying not to vomit again.

Emmett yelled down an aisle at another worker to get something to clean it up. I was still staring slack jawed, feeling the giggles start to bubble up.

"Bella!" Edward wailed and I snapped out of it.

"Oh, Edward," I said, kneeling next to his side. "Are you okay?" He shook his head and actually looked like he was about to cry before he turned into me and held onto me tightly, burying his nose in my neck. I rubbed his back and tried to ignore the uneasy feeling in my stomach. Jessica yelled a bit more before stomping away.

"Come on, I'll bring you home now."

"Thank you," he whispered close to my ear as we stood up.

I wrapped his arm around my shoulder and he leaned into me. Saluting Emmett as we walked past we climbed into the van. Edward said he felt so bad he wanted to lie down. I said that they hadn't repaved the roads in years so he'd probably be knocked around the back until he vomited a few more times. He sat in the front.

By the time I pulled into my driveway I had broken into a sweat from how nervous I was for him. I ran around to his side while he fumbled out the door and helped him walk up to his house. He pulled off his shirt halfway up the stairs and I saw a sheen of sweat over his skin.

"Edward?" I said when we reached the top of the stairs. "Stop for a second." His eyes were closed and his lips were pulled down into a frown. I placed the back of my hand on his forehead and cheeks. He was burning up.

"God you have such a fever. Come on, I want to get you in bed."

"I wish you were saying that under different circumstances," he grumbled. I couldn't help but burst out laughing. When we reached his bedroom he all of a sudden pushed the door open and ran to his bathroom. I heard him retching and grimaced. Poor boy.

I pulled down his bedcovers and found a wastebasket to put next to his bed. By the time I had gotten a glass of water for him downstairs I wasn't feeling too good myself. I pulled a few bottles of water from the fridge, grabbed some medicine and stumbled back up the stairs. Edward had apparently been sick again.

He groaned from the bathroom and I felt so bad for him. I grabbed the sweatpants that were lying on his bed and walked to the bathroom.

"Do you want to put on your pyjama's?" I asked him softly, rubbing his back. He nodded and wiped his mouth before I left him in the bathroom.

"I'm really sorry if you get sick, Bella," he called out and I heard his belt hit the floor.

"It's alright, Edward, it's probably just worry for you," I said through the door.

"You're too good to me, Bella," he said and then I heard him retch again. Oh... my stomach?

"Edward?!" I yelled. "Can you open the door please?" He unlocked it and then I pushed past him, lying there on the floor and threw myself in front of the toilet, doing a cover performance of Edward's latest pyrotechnics.

"I am so, sorry," he moaned, his cheek pressed against the checker tile floor. I shook my head as I wiped my mouth and quickly flushed the toilet.

"Don't be," I gasped out. "We probably got sick at the same time, since we're always together. Mine was probably waiting to do a sneak attack, is all."

Needless to say, this stomach bug was a bad one. We managed to crawl into the bedroom and grab some water so that when we did throw up there was something in our stomachs, but aside from that we spent the better part of the afternoon in the bathroom.

My legs became too weak to handle walking back and forth, so I laid down in the bathtub where the porcelain was cool against my boiling skin. Edward stayed in his spot on the floor, bare chest up against the cool tile.

The phone rang a couple times but neither of us had the strength to go get it. I was just glad we knew each other well enough to not be embarrassed by vomiting next to each other.

When our stomachs began to settle enough that we hadn't puked in about a half an hour we thought it might be good to get into the actual bedroom and try to sleep through the rest of it. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to manage to get to my house, and Edward wasn't going to let me leave his sight, anyway.

"We're quarantined, now," he said with a smile. I grabbed his mouthwash and gave myself a good rinsing while he brushed his teeth. All the water I'd brought up was gone.

Edward found an old white v neck of his and passed me a pair of boxers to sleep in, since my clothes were drenched in sweat. We took turns using the bathroom, and when I was finished he was tucked into bed, my side turned down and waiting for me.

"I really am sorry you got sick, Bella," he croaked. I pushed his sweaty hair out of his forehead and closed my eyes.

"Don't worry about it," I mumbled. "Knowing me I would have caught it anyway." Edward mimicked my actions, pushing my bangs off my forehead and then he kissed my nose before wrapping his arms around me. I tangled my legs in his and that was the last thing I remembered before I passed out.

Renee was a big factor for why we woke up when we did. She had gotten worried when I didn't come home, despite the fact that the car was in the driveway. She had been grocery shopping and learned from Emmett that I had come and gotten Edward, since he was very sick.

She decided to come over and give me a hand with making him feel better. Imagine her surprise to find us sweaty and in bed together.

There was a lot of yelling, and a lot of accusations. This sudden noise resulted in Edward and I jerking awake, me becoming very embarrassed, and Edward looking very cute while very confused. He rolled over and curled into a ball, feeling the same nausea I was. When I leaned over and threw up into the trash can I'd brought in earlier, I think she got the idea. She threw herself into over the top mother mode. She fetched medicine for us, brought up the phone, changed the trash bags, and turned down the heat in the room since it was still a hot day.

She brought up so many fluids to rehydrate us that I thought I was going to pee just looking at them.

She agreed that it would be better for me to stay here rather than moving myself across the lawn and upstairs to my bed, so she told us she'd check in on us later and just go back to sleep.

Edward curled into my side and fell back asleep quickly. I took a moment to admire just how cute he was when he was helpless like this, even if he was a bit paler than usual.

Alice came home and it was very late at night. I woke up when I heard Jasper's car pull up. What I wasn't expecting was four all of our friends to pile into the room, yelling and hollering that we'd finally shacked up together.

The smell of sickness might have been what convinced them otherwise.

"You two are _not_ allowed to leave this room until you are completely cured and decontaminated!" Alice yelled, pulled her shirt collar over her nose.

"Can I have some toast?" I asked in a bit of a baby voice. Edward nodded his head enthusiastically.

"You guys skip out on movie night and expect us to forgive you _and_ do your dirty work?" Emmett asked in mock horror.

"I'm sorry we spent the afternoon puking enough to fill up Lake Michigan, okay?" Edward groaned. "We want solid food now, please!"

Jasper went downstairs to kindly make us food while the other three sat in the doorway talking, refusing to come any closer. Jasper bravely stepped into the room and passed us our toast and cups of tea before joining the rest in the doorway.

We ate, and I didn't feel like seeing it again when we finished so I took that as a good sign. My stomach still got queasy every now and then, but I wasn't going to be doing any tricks soon. We talked to our friends about plans for the end of summer trip, but I was so tired that I ignored them and curled up next to Edward, nearly asleep.

I heard him murmur to the others, listened as they called out soft goodbyes, and ignored their heavy footfalls on the steps. Edward laid back down and I held onto him tightly which only made him smile, of course.

"Please don't apologise for getting me sick again," I mumbled when he let out a sigh.

"I'm not going to," he replied. "I'm quite glad for it now." I internally rolled my eyes.

"Please don't hit on me right now," I laughed. Edward chuckled and squeezed my waist.

"No, I just mean... I could have gotten Emmett sick instead of you." I was confused.

"So? What difference does that make?"

"Well, I wouldn't want to be in this position with Emmett," he said with a cute grin. I laughed heartily and fell asleep easily. We stayed that way until morning and thankfully, didn't get sick again.

* * *

**I bet you guys thought it was going to be New Moon in the sense that Edward leaves, didn't you! Hah. Nope, the movie theatre sickness strikes again!  
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**Press this little button here and leave some love if you'd like to see the next chapter soon!  
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	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks for waiting you guys! I had a busy few weeks at work, but I managed to get this done!**

**A few of you pointed out that it took me so long to update before. That's becuase, as was stated on my profile, I was updating one story at a time until it was finished, which was The Lighthouse! Now, I'm writing this one until it's finished, and then I'll be writing Clandestine. I'll probably post some short stories during Clandestine which I have mostly finished. I find myself with a lot of free time at work actually!**

**It would mean a lot to me if you guys have taken Across the Ocean off your alert list, if you'd go over and read Chapter 19, the Author's Note, and let me know what part of that story you'd like to see as an outtake!**

**The beginning of this chapter was me two nights ago, where me= Edward, and I was alone :/ Not as exciting, but I thought it'd be cute to put this in!**

**Let me know what you all think, and check out my news section of my profile page soon for a journal post that you should read!  
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Chapter Nine:**

The week before the end of summer trip that we had planned, including myself, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice and Edward, was one giant storm waiting to happen. The sky was one huge grey cloudy mess, waiting to dump itself out on top of us. Three days before the trip we had a massive rainfall. The next night was a lightning storm.

One of the first things I had ever told Edward about myself was that I was terrified of thunder and lightning, and had been since I was a small kid. He assured me that while it _was_ fearsome, it was beautiful as well, and we were perfectly safe in our houses.

It wasn't raining for this lightning storm, which is what made it all the more terrifying for me. I woke up in the middle of the night to the last clap of thunder and sat there in bed, terrified, until I saw the next flash of lightning. This made me retreat under my covers and clench my eyes shut so I wouldn't have to see it.

I didn't like giant rumbling sounds coming from the sky, okay?

I sat there for a few minutes, cowering in fear like the baby I am. Renee must not have woken up, because she usually came to fetch me and made smores in the kitchen while we waited for the storm to pass.

When I was halfway through reciting the periodic table in my head I heard a tapping at my window. My first thought, of course, was that it was the storm trying to get in. Then I realised I was being ridiculous so I got up to see what it was.

I shouldn't have been surprised to see Edward's face in my window, because he's a lunatic most of the time. But this was the middle of a storm. I threw open the window, which nearly caused him to fall over, but I grabbed his shirt and pulled him in.

"What the hell are you doing there in the middle of the night?!" I shrieked. "There's a friggin' storm, do you_ want _to be hit by lightning?!" He was just lying there on my floor, laughing at me. Idiot.

"Bella have you even been listening to the thunder? That storm is miles away!" I grumbled some more and threw myself back into bed. He got up and looked at me a little sadly.

"Look, I know you're scared. I came over because I knew you were, and I wanted to help you out, okay? I was worried about you..." Oh jeez. Why does he have to be so charming and perfect when I do not want him to be?!

"Are you okay?" he asked softly. And because there was so much care and kindness in his voice I threw myself into his arms and clutched onto him tightly, crying in his chest and shaking at the next flash of lightning. Edward easily cradled me between his legs, holding me so tightly to his chest that I couldn't move anymore.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay, Bella," he murmured. "I worry about you. When I heard the thunder I got out of bed to come over."

"Thank you so much," I sobbed. "I was so scared, and the last thing I expected was for you to show up." He rubbed my back and kissed my head lightly.

"What do you usually do to get through this?" he asked when I calmed down a bit. I told him about the smores and that I generally just hid under the covers until I fell asleep again. He laughed lightly.

"Do you want to do what I usually do?" he asked softly. "I promise you'll be safe." I nodded hesitantly and he smiled. "Let's go make smores to make you feel better, first," he suggested lightly. Just the tone of his voice was warming my stomach and calming me down. It didn't hurt that he sounded like velvet when he spoke, either.

We moved around the kitchen in the dark, just the light of the fridge and the microwave guiding us as we made up a plate of smores each and grabbed glasses of milk. I jumped every time there was lightning and braced myself for the thunder, but Edward was always there to catch whatever was in my hand.

We walked quietly up to my room again and I noticed for the first time that he was wearing a plain white t shirt and red plaid pyjama pants. He probably didn't usually wear them, but was courteous enough to put them on for me. I know on this hot night I was wearing cotton shorts and a tank top.

"Okay, I say again, that I promise you won't be hurt, and if it gets to be too much, that we can just talk or something until it passes, alright?" I nodded mutely. "Do you trust me?" he asked, searching my eyes. I stared into his beautiful green eyes and nodded again.

Edward sat down on the window seat, putting his glass and plate next to the window and then motioned for me to sit between his legs. I complied, leaning against his chest while he wrapped one arm around me and used the other to chomp on a smore.

"I find these storms fascinating," he murmured while I chewed away. "They've been my favourite kind of weather since I was a kid. Have you ever been in a storm where the lightning strikes and there's that immediate clap of thunder, that sounds like you're ear drums are splitting, and your house shakes?" I shook my head. These storms hadn't gotten that bad before.

"I was in a storm like that before. And I didn't spend enough time being terrified about the sheer volume of it, because I was trying to hold the china plates in their cupboards. But it was absolutely fascinating to me, how that could happen." We were staring out the window. The night sky had this slightly pink tinge to it, even though it was dark. Then, it very suddenly flashed white, though I didn't see a bolt. I didn't find myself jumping either, but I wasn't looking forward to the thunder.

"See? You can see it happen, and it's amazing that nature has this pure electric power, to me. But if you count in between, you can tell how far away the bolt has struck, did you know that?" The thunder rumbled out, deep and low, setting a sick feeling in my stomach.

"Let's try it for the next flash, okay? That always made Alice feel better, knowing how far away it was." I nodded and leant back to the crook of his neck while we stared out the window. It was a short while later when the sky lit up again and I jumped from shock, but Edward was softly counting next to my ear.

We counted seven Mississippi's before the thunder began rumbling towards us. "That means it's seven miles away," he murmured softly. That didn't seem nearly as scary as it was before. Seven miles was quite a length, especially since the thunder had been louder and closer before.

Edward and I stayed up until the lightning was twelve miles away, and I eventually began to see the beauty of it. It wasn't common, but seeing the sky so violent in this way was almost breathtaking.

"You okay?" he murmured. Our plates and glasses were empty on the window sill and I was starting to get sleepy from the warmth of his body.

"You may have just cured my fear," I murmured softly, turning my head to look at him. He smiled gently, the motion wrinkling the corners of his eyes. Before I could react he scooped me into his arms and laid me down on my bed, bringing the covers to his waist. He laid down beside me and just watched me.

"I'm glad you came over tonight, Edward," I whispered in the darkness, feeling exceptionally tired.

"I'm glad I came, too," he whispered back.

"Thank you for taking care of me," I murmured, my eyes now shut. I felt movement from him and opened my eyes to find him close to me. He hesitantly wrapped an arm around my waist and I smiled. The boy deserved some kind of loving tonight, especially since I was usually a heartless bitch to him.

I snuggled closer to him, and the flash of lightning lit up the room and his features for a moment, and I saw him watching me intently.

He leant down slowly and placed a soft, gentle kiss against my lips while the thunder rumbled out, low and deep. He parted from my lips and kissed my forehead before pulling back and closing his eyes. On the next flash of lightning I gazed at him, shadowed in the night, lying in my bed and looking oh so peaceful.

I woke up when the sun was still at its white stage, a cold feeling light in comparison to the orangey warmness of mid day. I knew it was sometime very early in the morning, but I couldn't help but watch the boy next to me. He was lying on his stomach, his arm reaching across the bed to touch my waist. His mouth was slightly ajar, making his pink bottom lip pout out. His hair, like his shirt, was askew, sticking in all the directions. I couldn't get over how cute his eyelashes looked splayed out against his cheek.

"Edward," I murmured, reaching an arm out to shake him lightly. He closed his mouth and his eyebrow furrowed. I shook him again. This time, his hand pulled away and his face nestled deeper into the pillow.

"Edward, wake up!" I hissed, pushing at him hard. His shoulder jerked back and his eyes popped open in surprised. It took him a few moment to figure out his bearings, the gauzy light coming in through my sheer curtains was not the muted light from his blinds. Never mind the fact that the entire room was off.

"Bella?" he croaked. I nodded. "I didn't mean to fall asleep here," he mumbled. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Thank you for last night, really, it helped," I assured him. He smiled beautifully at me. "But I think you should go. Get some more sleep before someone finds you missing, or someone finds you here." He chuckled lightly with me and I walked with him to the window. He hung off it easily, stretching down as far as he could before he let go and fell to the ground.

When he stood up and started towards the lawn to his house he turned back to me and waved, a brilliantly goofy smile covering his sleepy face. I went back to bed and curled into the warmth he left behind, breathing in his smell as I fell asleep again.

* * *

"Bella, we're going tomorrow, right?" Alice asked me, bursting into my room. I jumped up in bed, knocking over my lamp and falling out from being tangled so widely in the sheets.

"Alice what the hell are you doing here?!" I groaned, grabbing my pillow and scooting underneath the bed. I absently remembered the dishes in my windowsill and hoped she wouldn't question as to why there were double my recommended daily intake of smores.

"Come on, lazy butt! We have to go shopping for the trip, jeez you're just as hard to get out of bed as Edward," she grunted, yanking on my foot. I blushed, knowing exactly why it was hard to get him out of bed. Alice pulling at my feet started to tickle so I begrudgingly got out of bed. Or out of under the bed.

"The boys are all at work, and Rosalie went into Port Angeles to pick us up some things. It's up for us to fetch the food that will let us survive at the cabin."

"What sort of things is Rosalie getting?" I asked warily.

Alice shrugged, trying to look innocent as she picked out my clothes. "You know... movies... games... bathing suits..."

"Alice! No! She will put me in a piece of cloth not a suit!" I begged, catching the clothes she threw at my head.

"I know Bella. Don't you want to impress my brother?" she winked and then skipped out of the room, leaving me alone to change. God that girl was good...

I stepped downstairs in my cut off jean shorts, the colourful tank top that floated away from my body, and the black cardigan on top. My hair I left down in whatever wavy curls it decided to do today and I walked into the kitchen barefoot, my hands in my pockets.

"Your mom left some water boiling for us," Alice said, passing me a mug of tea. "But let's get going and get this shopping done early." I nodded and grabbed my wallet before falling out the door after Alice and climbing into her car.

We found the boys easily when we got to the Thriftway. Jasper was helping bag groceries at the front, and Edward and Emmett weren't far ahead, restocking cereal.

"Hi guys, anything to add to the list?" Alice asked, skipping up to them. Emmett shook his head but Edward grinned.

"Get stuff for smores, okay?" He told her. My cheeks burned bright red. Alice thought smores were a great idea, of course. I shot Edward a look and here merely gave me a happy smile.

We walked through the aisle with the boys following us as we talked. I put things into our cart that I knew were on the list. Alice was too busy talking to actually let me see the list, however. I was bent over a meat cooler checking out the prices on some steaks and ground beef when I got an idea.

"How would you guys feel about a barbeque?" I asked them suddenly, jerking them out of their conversations. "I'd like to invite Esme and Carlisle, an end of summer thing. If you guys are okay with it..."

"That sounds like a great idea," Emmett said with a huge grin. "I'll help man the barbeque. That is a man's domain." I rolled my eyes and pulled out enough meat for tonight, and the stuff we needed for our trip as well.

"Anyway. You guys can come over after work and we'll get everything ready. Go do work now, before you're fired," I said, shooing them away. Emmett waved goodbye and Edward squeezed my arm, smiling at me, his green eyes twinkling before walking away.

Alice and I made quick work in the store. She insisted on riding the front of the cart while I pushed, running down all the aisles and quickly filling the cart. We must have looked quite the pair, me in my shorts and old converse, pushing her in her capri's and red heels down the aisle, while she was mounted like a figurehead to the front of the cart, pointing directions.

We stopped lastly to grab the popsicles and various other frozen treats that Emmett had insisted upon when I heard them. That girl who was haunting me for so many weeks, showing up at my neighbours' house.

"I can't wait for you to meet him, Lauren," Jessica said down the aisle, next to the chips and soft drinks. Good. I hope she gets fat... "He's totally gorgeous and so into me."

"Why hasn't he been around more? There have been a ton of parties this summer," Lauren added, grabbing onto a bag of salt and vinegar chips.

"Oh he's really into his family, isn't that sweet? He spends a lot of time with his parents and his sister." Alice was facing me, watching my face as I tried not to be sick. She looked furious with what we were hearing. "But he's been so kind to me. He's a really good kisser, you know," she giggled.

Laurent laughed with her and then they bent over for two litres of soda. "I can't wait to see him, especially if he's as hot as you say."

"Oh he's definitely hot," Jessica said matter of factly. "In all the right places too, if you know what I mean. _Great_ bod."

"Oh, and you've had firsthand experience?" Lauren asked sceptically. Jessica nodded.

"That boy can really do some amazing things in bed," she sighed. And that was it, I started collapsing, the cart pushing away from me as Emmett came around the corner with a look of fury in his eyes and Alice stomped determinedly towards the two lunatics.

I sat there, in front of the coolers, getting sufficiently chilly while I thought about what I'd heard. I should know better, but Jessica _was_ over there quite a lot. Edward never came over until she'd left, and I know I shouldn't believe her, but what claim did I have on him? He was my best friend, and he gave me friendly little kisses. That doesn't mean he's attracted to me in anyway. Ignore the fact that he asks me out all the time.

This was bound to happen. There were more girls in Forks that he could pick from, and I know I shouldn't get this upset about it.

With that, I picked myself up from the floor and held onto the cart, looking over to where my two friends had confronted my two nemesis.

"How _dare_ you talk about my brother that way!" Alice hollered. "Do you have no respect?! How dare you even begin to say the things you've said, when all you did was sit around my house, drink our tea, and try and charm our mother, who just really wanted you to stop coming around.

"Edward was nothing but polite to you, putting up with your stupid visits until you left so he could go and see Bella, you dumb twit!"

"Bella, don't worry about it, okay? She isn't even telling the truth," Emmett comforted, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, Em," I said with a sad smile, pushing my cart towards the cash. Edward came up the aisle then, looking at where his sister was directing his yells, and I really was not ready to talk to him, so I swung open a freezer door and started grabbing Emmett's stupid popsicles and fudgsicles and threw them in the cart.

"Bella?" Edward asked, all this concern in his voice. "Are you okay?" I nodded, lifting the corners of my mouth in the most pathetic smile I'd ever made, keeping my eyes turned down, ignoring the warm wetness in them. Edward held onto my arm and kissed my forehead before walking up to his sister and the stupid girls that made me feel like absolute garbage.

He pushed Alice away and pointed towards me while he had words with Jessica and Lauren. Alice grabbed my arm and started stomping towards the checkout. Alice began throwing food onto the belt while Jasper looked at her in concern. When our cart was empty and we were standing around waiting for our total Emmett and Edward came back up, both looking thoroughly pissed. They grabbed full bags and brought them out to the car while Alice and I searched through the ancient coin purse that contained our trip funds.

We only had to take a bag each to take out to the car when all was said and done. Emmett closed the trunk while Edward held open my door for me. He still looked a little angry, but seemed like he wanted to cheer up a bit around me.

"I'll talk to you when we get home, okay? I'll help you out with supper." He leaned down and kissed the top of my head again before walking back into the store.

"I really want to key her car," I mumbled when we pulled out, staring at the innocent vehicle. Alice handed me the book shops keys.

"Be my guest," she said seriously. "Maybe draw something, too..."

I laughed with her as we rode to the book shop. She yelled at me to be quick, we had meat and ice cream to attend to.

I walked inside to find my mom behind the counter, figuring something out on the computer. Carlisle was sitting in a chair with Jonathan in his lap, reading, while Esme browsed through the rows of books.

"I'm having a barbeque," I declared, earning stares from the occupants of the store. "Heads up!" I called, throwing the keys towards my mother, who caught them easily.

"You're all invited over, it's when the store closes, there will be yummy food, and friends. Bye!" And then I hopped back into the car with Alice while we drove home.

It took a while to pack everything away, and picking out some things that we could pack up for the trip already.

I got a marinade ready for the steaks and Alice went to work putting together hamburgers. I was actually surprised to see her shove her hands into the ground beef, but she seemed gung ho for it, mashing away and putting in different ingredients before forming the patties.

We put all our meat in the fridge and Alice went upstairs to help me pick out clothes for the trip. It wasn't long until we had my measly suitcase packed, with enough room for pyjama's and whatever monstrosity Rosalie was going to show up with.

I went over to Alice's and helped her decide which wardrobe she'd bring to the cabin. It only took us about an hour to fill her suitcase, and I felt quite proud of us. Until I noticed the time, and that we should probably get started on some more food.

Alice and I made a potato salad, a macaroni salad, a coleslaw, and when all was said and done we were quite proud of the work we'd done.

I started on plain old chocolate chip cookies for dessert while she went into the backyard to clean off the furniture and put up the umbrella. I heard her talking to someone and when I looked out the window I saw her mother peering out of the kitchen window, talking to Alice.

"Hello Elizabeth!" I said with a smile when she came over to see what we'd done.

"Well girls!" She said, her face lighted up in a smile. "I can't believe how much work you've done! You should be proud of yourselves."

"Thanks mom!" Alice shouted from outside where she attempted to drag her bigger barbeque over to my backyard. At least she'd taken off the heels by now.

"We just wanted to do something to get everyone together before the end of the summer, and I thought this would be a nice way to do it," I said with a shrug, mixing in the chocolate chips.

"Well you girls have really undone yourselves. I can't even make a salad to contribute!" she chuckled. "I think I have some dinner rolls I can bring though, and I did make jell-o last night..."

"Emmett and Jasper will be so excited for jell-o," I assured her. She smiled and squeezed my shoulder before heading back to her house.

I put the cookies in the oven and went outside to help Alice figure out how to work the barbeque. She lost a few hairs on her arms learning that we should definitely not turn it on with the cover down.

Rosalie found us in the backyard, doubled over in laughter at Alice's misfortune with the barbeque. Then she rolled her eyes and proceeded to light it properly.

She began showing us her new purchases for the trip, including a first aid kit, and then pulled out what she had gotten for us. Alice ooh'd and ahh'd over her new bikini, while I blushed at mine, another cute blue number, and put it in the suitcase, grabbing the meat along the way.

We heard a car pull up, probably the boys, when Elizabeth and her husband came back across the lawn. Her with her rolls and jell-o, as promised, and he carrying many a lawn chair.

Here is something you might not know about me. I have a mad crush on Edward's father. Edward senior is where his son got all his good looks, minus the blue eyes which Alice inherited. But, there house was filled with black and white pictures of he and Elizabeth back in the day, and he was quite handsome.

This is probably why I feel the need to shut up like an idiot around him, lest I tell him how much I want to jump his bones. Or accidentally tell Edward.

Or the entire barbeque.

He politely spared me from standing in front of the barbeque all afternoon, taking the tongs from me and fulfilling his duties as the man of the house.

Emmett and Jasper came running into the backyard with a football, changed into more casual clothes. Edward followed after them, laughing, but walking a normal pace. Instead of facing him, like someone with a spine, I turned around and went back into the shade of the kitchen and started making a salad.

"Bella, I'm home!" Renee called from the front door. I chopped up an apple and threw in some cheese before looking up. I froze, with a stalk of celery in my hand when I saw who was with her. Coach Dwyer was standing to her side, looking quite nervous, but smiling nonetheless.

I'd be nervous too, were I him.

"Bella I want you to meet Phil," she said softly, that warm, hopeful smile on her face. "He's a new coach at your school, you probably know him, but I thought it'd be nice to introduce you more personally.

"Nice to meet you, Phil," I said holding out my hand, letting him know I wasn't going to chop it off with the butcher knife I'd just put down.

"Nice to meet you, too, Bella," he said with a smile. "I heard you're treating everyone tonight."

I nodded. "Yep, fill yourself up, all the labour is on me," I laughed. "The boys are out back playing with a football, if you want to school them in a lesson," I grinned.

His eyes lit up and he squeezed Renee's hand before heading into the backyard. I hear loud whoops and laughter, and Renee and I peered outside to see them getting ready to play a game.

"Bella, I want to talk to you about Phil," Renee began quietly. "I hope you don't mind that I invited him, but I haven't gotten a chance to talk to you about him. Phil and I are-"

"Dating," I cut her off. She looked surprised. "I saw you two together when Edward and I went out for ice cream. I'm happy for you, mom."

"You are?" she asked excitedly. I nodded.

"You haven't seen anyone since Dad passed away, it's nice that you've found someone else. Why would I be upset that you're happy." Her smile was so huge and she squeezed me tightly in a hug.

"Thank you so much Bella," she whispered against my ear. "I didn't want you to think I was disrespecting your father."

"No, Mom, I understand," I assured her. "I mean, we love Dad, but he's been gone for a long time. It's time for you to be happy now." There were tears in her eyes thinking about Charlie and I wiped them away, knowing that I was probably crying now, as well.

"I love you, babe," she said with a laugh.

"I know Mom, I love you, too. Now go out there and watch some football." She laughed and squeezed me again, walking out to the back yard.

When I stepped outside, Elizabeth and Alice had set out places and put out all the food. Alice was scooping up a plate for Jasper, and Rosalie was getting one for Emmett as well, judging by the amount of food on it. Esme was also serving herself and her boys, giving me a little smile when I walked out. Carlisle and Jonathan had been added to the football game, but Edward was sitting under the umbrella with his head in his hand, watching the game with a small frown on his face.

He had no reason to be grumpy, and it upset me seeing him anything but happy. He was also so freaking cheerful that it was like a sunny day in Forks to see him this upset- rare.

I scooped the garden salad onto a plate for him, along with the others I knew he liked. Then, I grabbed the ranch dressing and squirted it into a happy face on top of his lettuce before pushing it in front of him. I acted like nothing happened, fixing myself a plate until I spared a look in his direction and saw him grinning beautifully up at me.

"Thank you, Bella," he murmured. I nodded and went to his father to get my hamburger, before calling to everyone else to come eat.

We all talked to each other, telling stories, getting to know those that we didn't know quite as well. It was a happy afternoon, full of laughter. But, while I sat next to him, I still couldn't bring myself to speak to Edward.

I don't know if it was because of what Jessica said this morning, or if it was because of all the innocent kisses he shared with me, or if it was because I was falling so hopelessly in love with him I didn't want to stop.

I was afraid to ruin the friendship we had, this was one truth, but I was also afraid of what would happen if I never acted on his offers.

I was just too afraid of what I felt for him, and I didn't know if I would be able to make it through this trip. Edward looked up at me and caught my eye and smiled. I smiled back, just as happy as he was in this moment.


	10. Chapter 10

**Oh, Wow. I really did not mean for this to be so long coming, and I deeply apologise. I meant to write this in the middle of july, but to be honest I only finished writing it up on paper earlier this week, since I get loads of free time at work for writing. I'm really sorry, again, and I hope that there won't be as long of a wait next time.**

**I don't really have much to say except that Across the Ocean WON Most Original Plot at the Twilight Twins award, and was runner up for Best Edward and Bella at TCFanfic's Awards. Stuck! WON Best Short Fic at the TCFanfic award's too, so thank you guys so so so much!**

**This chapter I'm not a fan of, which is mostly a reason why it took so long. There are a couple of hidden inside jokes my friends and I have, one Family Guy reference, and a couple lines from Catface, if you are familiar with him at all.**

**The next chapter is what everyone's been waiting for, so until then, here's chapter ten!**

**

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Chapter Ten:**

I had just been having this most wonderful dream about mint chocolate bars and alien spaceships when I felt something wet on my back.

And cold. Very, very cold.

I jumped out of bed, crashing onto my floor and yelling out several expletives before throwing the ice cubes back at Alice's laughing face.

"Alice, I swear to God, you must be a plague sent to this earth to destroy me!" I yelled, locking myself in my bathroom. She and Rose just kept laughing, asking me to please come out. I cleaned myself up and pulled on some clothes I found in the laundry basket that I was pretty sure weren't dirty.

"Bella, I will make you some really nice tea for the road if you forgive me," Alice said as soon as I was out of the door, giving me her best puppy eyes.

"Fine. But you better have everything packed, because we're supposed to be leaving in half an hour." Alice's face paled and she ran out of my room. I vaguely heard the front door slam shut. Rose and I peeked out the window to see her running across the lawn.

Rosalie and I carried our bags over the lawn where Jasper and Emmett were loading luggage into Emmett's jeep. I noticed that Edward's trunk was open and filled with bags and bags of food, and there was a cooler and various water play things in his backseat.

"Where's Edward?" I asked as Emmett hoisted my bag over his head.

"Upstairs looking for something, I dunno. Tell him we're going to be late if he doesn't hurry up, okay?" I nodded and padded into the house.

"Bella is that you?" Alice called when I passed her door. "Can you help me bring these downstairs?" she asked pathetically, pointing to two bags, bags which were not the ones I knew were already in the car.

"Alice do you really need all this?"

"Yes," she answered. Deadly serious.

I pulled a bag over my shoulder and shut the door behind us, walking slowly compared to Alice who was probably already out of the door.

I heard a frustrated groan and peeked into Edward's room. He was pulling all the sheets off his bed and shaking them out before throwing them back, kicking his dirty clothes all around the floor and pulling his shoes out of his closet. He looked genuinely angry.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly. He looked up, and for probably the first time since I'd known him his face didn't resume that carefree, happy expression.

"I'm looking for my iPod's transmitter," he said shortly. "I had it in my hand earlier, and now it's gone." I looked at his dresser and saw a familiar black box. I picked it up.

"Is this it?" I asked him, holding it up. His expression softened marginally and he walked over to me, thanking me softly before pulling out his iPod and pushing the transmitter into the bottom. It seemed such a trivial thing for him to be upset about. His expression turned to look a bit guilty.

I put a hand on his arm and squeezed lightly. "Don't worry about it so much, okay?" I said softly. Immediately his cute crooked grin lit up his face and he nodded, taking Alice's bag from me and following me down the stairs. I smiled lightly to myself, knowing that _I_ had the power to cheer him up.

When we walked out of the house there were cheers from our friends who were all hanging out the windows of Emmett's jeep. Edward and I hopped into his car and were soon following behind the big red monstrosity.

Until we got on the highway. Then he gunned it and passed them as we waved and they beat their horn in dismay.

I told Edward which gas station he was supposed to stop at, and then we turned on the music and sat back, laughing and singing. When there was a lapse in music I took a moment to look him over. He was looking considerably more relaxed than he had been in his room.

"You seemed upset earlier," I said, pulling my feet into my seat and turning to face him.

"I have a bad temper," was his short reply, in his usual cheerful voice.

"I've never seen you get angry before," I murmured. He took a look at me quickly and pressed his lips together in a bit of a frown.

"I don't like to get mad often, because I feel that it is a great waste of my energy when I could be expending it in my attempts to woo you. However, when I get mad, I get _really _mad. And I tend to rethink things a lot, and when I think about them that anger comes back," he explained. He gave a small shrug.

"What made you so upset?" I asked.

"I was still frustrated about what happened with Jessica. And then I got upset that you might still be upset about it, and then I got mad because I really didn't want that to get in the way of this trip."

"I'm okay," I told him quietly, looking back out the front window. _I'm okay, I've faced the fact that I _can_ lose you to other girls, but I still really don't want to._

He started singing along to the music, and the way he'd change his voices to try and match the artists made me smile. I let my seatbelt act as a cradle for my head as I drifted into sleep.

I dreamt something along the lines of the mattress cover on my bed popping off and my arms getting scratched up from the rough surface I was trying to sleep on. Then Rosalie and Emmett came into my room holding onto Edward, who was dressed up like one of those French mimes, screaming without sound, with his funny painted white face and little black tear drop eyes.

They all seemed to be talking, and yet I just lay there, uncomfortable in my bed and watched them, not able to hear them.

Emmett walked slowly over to me and brought his face very very closely to my head and smirked.

"BELLA."

I screamed bloody murder and jumped so high I hit the roof of the car, my legs kicking out against the gear shift and my arms punching out in front of me.

One fist made contact.

"Ow!" Emmett yelled, just as loudly as he'd yelled in my ear, stumbling back from the car.

"Emmett what the hell is your problem!" I yelled, watching him clutch his nose in pain.

"Why'd you punch me!" he cried. I looked out the window and saw the other four doubled over in laughter.

"Don't scare me!" I huffed, climbing out of the car and stomping into the gas station. I went to the bathroom, washed the sleepiness off my face and tied my rat's nest (hair) into a lose ponytail.

I let out a loud sigh as I trudged through the store, grabbing a bad of candy, a big chocolate bar and two bottles of water.

The teenager at the counter kept shifting his weight from foot to foot while he winked at me with his mouth open. I openly glared at him, standing still as I waited for him to take my change.

"Did you get something?" Edward asked, walking up next to me with his usual big happy smile and bright eyes intact. I pushed the bottle of water at him and kissed his cheek.

"See you in the car," I said lowly, winking at him before I walked away. I heard him breathe jaggedly through his nervous laughter before he sighed out a 'wow.' Glancing over my shoulder gave me a view of the kid glaring at him as he took his money for gas.

Emmett passed me on his way into the gas bar and glared, pointing a finger at me. I threw a piece of candy at him and his face lit up as he tried to catch it.

Alice, Rose and I chatted through the windows of the cars while Jasper studied a map with great interest.

"That was a mean thing you did to that kid," Edward said with a grin as he sat down next to me. "He charged me for Emmett's gas! This baby does not take the same amount of gas as Emmett's, I can tell you that." He looked thoroughly grumpy and rather than argue with him I popped a piece of chocolate in my mouth and held out the candy bag for him.

"Ooh, piece of candy," he cooed and instantly the grumpiness was erased from his face.

"You guys drive ahead of us," I told Emmett as he climbed into his car. "I'm not that confident in my ability to get us there, it's Jasper's cabin after all."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Emmett said, pulling on his seatbelt.

"I want to drive ahead of them," Edward whined.

"Look at it this way," I said in my negotiating voice. Which was an awful lot like my 'let's be rational about this voice and my 'are you sure you want to do that?' voice. "They are bigger than us. They will hit a deer before us, they will tip off the road before us, and they know how to get there better than us." He pouted but relented, pulling out behind Emmett.

What started out as a very large gravel road soon changed into a narrow dirt road as we pulled off into the forest. There was just enough room for one car to fit through as we drove uphill, thick trees and bushes threatening to scratch the cars as they grew over the road.

When we mounted the hill I pointed out the pond to Edward, still far away though the dirt road had widened a bit.

"There used to be lots of cabins out here," I said as we went along. "Jasper's family is probably the only one that comes out here anymore." We drove close to the pond and I found myself staring out over the water. "Almost all the bedrooms are upstairs, around some big room that is supposed to be a hallway. Downstairs is just one room with the kitchen and living room. They have a bathroom inside, but there's an outhouse, too, and a generator is out back so that we can turn on some video games."

Edward nodded and carefully followed Emmett through the trail. I told him some stories of coming out here with Jasper and his Mom, Emmett, Alice and Rosalie. I pointed out the floating wharf when it came into view, knowing that we were close.

"It's just over this hill," I said as we began a steep incline. The red shingles of the cabin peeked through all the green foliage and I smiled widely, bouncing in my seat as Edward laughed for me to calm down.

We pulled in next to the jeep on the hill of a driveway and I stumbled out of the car with a whoop, helping the girls drag our bags into the door that Jasper was quickly unlocking. In the kitchen Alice began unpacking the groceries while Rosalie and I pulled our suitcases upstairs, smirking at each other as we changed into bathing suits.

"Now what?" Alice asked when we joined the others, everything unpacked and in its right place. I was practically bouncing I was so giddy. Rosalie and I spared one look at each other, Emmett and Jasper before running out the door.

"Swimming!" the boys hollered and raced after us. Swimming in the ocean was one thing. Swimming at this lake was something else. It was big, but relatively shallow which made it nearly warm on a good day.

As we ran down the boardwalk Rosalie and I pulled the old t shirts off our tops, leaving them behind. I was in the lead and I grabbed onto the rope swing at the edge of the water, swinging out far before flying off in a cannonball.

Rosalie grabbed onto the swing right behind me while Emmett and Jasper jumped in after her, all of us laughing and splashing. I threw water at Rosalie as we tied our wet hair higher on our heads. Edward and Alice walked down to the lake slowly, he in his swimming shorts and she in her little black bikini.

"Ahh!" Rosalie yelped and I looked over just in time to catch Emmett grabbing her legs from under the water and lifting her high over his head before dumping her back in the lake. Of course, it was a matter of seconds before I was yelling myself from Jasper performing the same act. This was apparently all the incentive Alice and Edward needed to jump in.

When I surfaced Edward grinned at me and started swimming towards me. I laughed and started swimming to the floating wharf a little farther out.

I'd just pulled myself onto it when Edward's hand grabbed my ankle.

I clutched onto the wharf until he let go and came up next to me.

"Hi," he said, resting his head on his crossed arms.

"Hi," I laughed.

The other caught up to us and Alice and Rosalie hopped up next to me.

"A race!" Emmett exclaimed. I watched as Edward's eyes lit up and he lifted his head to look at the boys. "To land. Loser has to clean the dishes tonight."

"What does the winner get?" Edward asked.

"A kiss!" Jasper wiggled his eyebrows at Alice while she giggled and turned pink.

"Winner doesn't have to cook _or_ do dishes. Everyone else can help cook, but the loser is the only one doing dishes," I explained. Everyone agreed on that. We decided they'd swim to land and back, so none of us girls had to swim over to declare a winner.

"On your mark," I yelled, standing behind the boys on the wharf.

"Get set!" Alice shouted when they'd all crouched.

Rosalie waited and waited before she finally laughed and yelled "Go!" The three of them jumped into the water and we started cheering and jumping, clapping our hands.

"Go Edward!" Alice yelled through her hands.

"Yeah, Jasper!" Rosalie shouted.

"Really?" I asked them in surprise.

"Edward's been swimming as long as he's played the piano. He's a qualified lifeguard so I have no doubt in his speed or stamina," Alice explained.

"Jasper's that same. Emmett's only got brute strength going for him, not speed or stamina. So, unless he's going to knee them in the balls, he's definitely going to lose." Rosalie laughed.

"Huh. Two lifeguards against Emmett," I mused. Since I felt bad I knew who I'd cheer for, so I began shouting Emmett's name.

They reached the land and when they turned Jasper and Edward won a significant lead, though Edward was pulling ahead.

Despite my best efforts Emmett _did_ end up last, while Edward remained victorious. He pulled himself onto the wharf and hauled up his dangerously low shorts, breathing heavily with a beautiful smile on his face.

"Where's my kiss?" he asked, pursing his lips at me and making these dumb kissing noises.

"Sorry," I grinned. "That was Jasper's prize." I laughed when Alice and Rose both grabbed Edward and kissed his cheeks before hopping back in the water with the losers.

He laughed and laid down on the wharf; his legs were in the water and one arm rested over his eyes.

"A valiant effort, Em," I said, kissing his cheek.

"Thanks Bell, it's nice to know someone believes in me," he said through his gasps for air. "I guess we're cleaning," he directed to Jasper.

"No way man," Jasper laughed. "You said loser, not losers. I am neutral territory." Alice giggled and clung onto him. Emmett looked so heartbroken while the rest of us laughed.

I swam to shore with the others close behind. When I couldn't pull myself out of the water and onto the wharf, Edward graciously helped by swimming under me and pushing on my butt, merely grinning when I shot him an angry look.

I picked up my t shirt and pulled it on, running away from Edward, and a wasp, who both chased me up the boardwalk to the cabin. I shut the door directly behind me to keep the wasp out, forgetting of course that it would trap Edward outside with it. I couldn't help but laugh as he ran into it.

"Bella don't leave me out here with this waspy type and its sting-y stinger," he begged. I could hear him walking around, dodging it as best as he could.

"Bella, I'm allergic," he yelled.

"You are not," I yelled back, trying not to laugh at the sounds he was making by fighting it off

"Okay, you're right, but I'm really scared." I opened the door and he jumped inside, slamming the door shut behind him and holding his breath until he was sure it wasn't in the cabin.

"You're going to pay," he growled and before I could run away he pounced at me- knocking me onto a daybed masquerading as a very comfy couch- and lay on top of me.

"Get off," I groaned and he merely laughed. "I can't breathe."

"Apologise for leaving me with the stripy ball of anger."

"I'm sorry, okay?" I huffed, still trying to push him off me.

"Good. Now, give me that kiss I won," he said in a deeper voice, his face very close to mine and seeming darker in the shadow of his shoulders.

"No!" I pulled my knee up to my chest and kicked him off, sending him flying onto the floor. I couldn't help but laugh as he covered his eyes and groaned in pain. I hopped off the daybed and ran up the stairs, ducking into the room I claimed and pulling on a pair of denim shorts with dry underpants. Edward was in the hallway, pulling a t shirt on over the top of his swimming shorts and pouting at me.

"Don't be sad," I told him. "I'll make you some jell-o or something." He followed me downstairs, tickling my sides. Out on the veranda Emmett was opening the barbeque and cleaning it up. There was a loud smack outside the front door and we heard Alice and Rosalie cheer.

"He killed a wasp!" Alice said, holding up my show with the bug in question flattened upon it.

"Why couldn't you do that?" I asked as I brushed past Edward, smiling when his cheeks turned pink.

"You guys are _lucky_ I lost," Emmett bellowed as he walked inside and pulled on a t shirt and flip flops. "I am king of the barbeque." I rolled my eyes and passed him the burgers and hot dogs before pulling out fixings for a salad. Alice started mixing up milkshakes while the rest of us busied ourselves in the kitchen.

"Can I help?" he asked, watching me stir up the jell-o I promised him.

"There's nothing for you to do, just relax and enjoy your win." He pouted, again, and went outside, lying down in the hammock.

Emmett grilled to perfection, as always, and we all sat outside to enjoy our meal. Edward reluctantly shared his spot in the hammock with me.

I looked around at my five friends, all laughing and telling stories as we ate. Edward's heat next to me helped me relax and I smiled at him when I caught him staring at me.

Maybe at some point in the next three days when Edward and I are alone together I'll stop worrying about the what-ifs, and I'll stop ignoring his advances. He makes it so hard to tell if he's joking or if he means it when he asks me out, but his kisses tell all.

Maybe I'll finally admit to him that I am head over converse clad heels for him. Maybe I would tell him that there are times when I want to hold him to me and never ever let him go, because his laugh is the best sound I've ever heard and his smiled is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

After supper Emmett washed the dishes while everyone else went down for another swim. I was packing up the food and laughed every time he sighed in frustration. When the last dish was in the drying board he let out the water and grinned at me before heading down to the lake.

I pulled the duvet off my bed and brought it down with me to make the hammock more comfortable. I climbed in with a milkshake and my worn copy of Wuthering Heights.

I'd gone through several pages until I head the sliding door and footsteps. I peered over the top of the book and saw a very wet Edward walking towards me with a cute grin on his face.

"Why are you up here by yourself?" He asked as he plopped into the hammock next to me.

"I have a bit of a headache. Thinking too much." About you.

"Alright, I hope you feel better. Did you want me to get you anything?"

"No, I'm fine Edward."

"Okay then." He sat up and moved closer to me. Immediately my heart quickened and I blushed, but said nothing when he leant down and kissed my forehead.

"Feel better. You're my partner for whatever games we wind up playing tonight." I smiled at him as he walked back inside, giving me one more smile over his shoulder as he left.

Yep. Definitely head over heels.


	11. Chapter 11

**Aha... I'm sorry. That's really all I can say.**

**I'm a second year student in university and I need to have less distractions and do well, and truthfully this story has been on my mind sinde it's close to the end, but I just had no motivation to write.**

**Needless to say, this is an important chapter and it wont take as long to update the next time.**

**I'm starting 2010 out in a good way, and updating somewhat regularly is part of that.**

**Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you enjoy.**

**This is a late Christmas gift for lauradean  
**

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**Chapter Eleven**

Surprisingly it's hard to fall asleep in a cabin where the walls are thin and most of your friends decide to sneak into each others' rooms to sleep, when _they _were the ones to make a show of sleeping separately. I really have no idea why they do this to me. Alice and Emmett stopped to have a full blown conversation in the hallway in front of my room before going to join their other halves.

Then I had to listen to Jasper and Alice giggle and talk, which came out sounding like the Charlie Brown adults through the thin walls. Then you could faintly hear squeaking from the room next door to Edward's.

Then you could hear Edward's loud groan and his door swinging open and his footsteps going down the hall to the bathroom while Alice and Jasper laughed at the poor guy's misfortune.

I fell asleep before he flushed the toilet.

When I woke up again the sun was streaming in through the windows and the clock told me it was somewhere nearing the afternoon.

I stumbled my way downstairs, stretching and yawning and savouring the feel of the soft wood floors beneath my bare feet. I froze in the entrance to the kitchen and saw Edward staring at a box of pancake mix looked really confused, a plain white mug held in his hand as he scratched the back of his neck.

When he heard my giggles he looked up and smiled and I stepped farther into the kitchen.

"Morning," he said happily.

"It's still morning?" Amazing. I was sure it'd be some time after lunch.

"Well, barely," he laughed. "How about we make some food and get those lazy bums out of bed?" My lips curled at the grin on his face and I snatched the pancake mix from him, pulling out a bowl.

I turned on the radio as Edward heated up a frying pan and opened up a pack of bacon. Some standard can't-play-our-instruments-can't-write-our-own-lyrics pop band was playing, but neither one of us admitted to knowing all the lyrics. At first it was just his feet tapping- my hips swaying.

Then it was full out Charleston, the running man, Edward even pulled out the lawnmower while I tried some sort of funky chicken-sprinkler combination.

Needless to say there was a tiny bit of mess by the time our friends had wandered downstairs and peered into the kitchen.

"You two are absolutely mad," Rosalie mumbled, filling up a plate with the food we'd made.

Edward's response was throwing a pancake at her face with the happiest smile I'd ever seen on his face. Emmett doubled over in whoops of laughter before Rose did the same to him. Alice and Jasper peacefully left the kitchen with a few laughs.

"Let's go back on the lake today," Emmett suggested as we ate on the patio.

"Swimming again?" Rosalie asked a little exasperatedly.

"Well, yeah," Emmett grinned, "but there's also the canoes, right Jazz? How many do your parents have?"

"Only two, so someone would have to sit out every now and then," he responded through a mouthful of food.

"That's fine," I pitched in. "I'm really, _really_ not that comfortable being so far out in the water."

"Bella you've got two lifeguards here," Emmett laughed. "Not to mention, the rest of us can swim well enough—_you _can swim well enough."

"Yeah, but out in water that deep, with my luck I'd bring the canoe with me somehow and get pinned to the bottom of the lake," I mumbled, pushing my eggs around.

"We have lots of life vests," Jasper added, a final attempt at making me sit in a piece of wood and push it around the surface of a deep, vast body of water.

"Thanks, but no, I'll just... build a sand castle, or something." Edward smiled at me and rubbed my knee quickly underneath the table.

"I'll keep you company," he said quietly. I smiled at him, happy for what a great friend he was, but mostly glad he'd taken his hand off of my bare knee. I finished my breakfast and pushed my plate under the soapy water before heading upstairs behind Alice and Rosalie. I caught, from the corner of my eye, Edward picking up a dish towel as Jasper stuck his hands in the sink, and Emmett heading outside with the key for the shed.

"They're really great guys, you know," I said quietly. The girls both turned to look at me and smiled.

"I know what you mean," Alice giggled as we walked into her room. "I thought we were going to leave the dishes until later tonight when we came in, but there they are, getting everything ready for us." Alice sighed and pulled out a pair of cut off shorts and a navy tube top to go over her bikini before shutting herself in the closet.

"Edward seems to be awfully close with you these past couple of days, Bella," Rosalie hinted, looking through Alice's things but only finding a pair of sunglasses to swipe from her. I shot her a look and she rolled her eyes, agreeing to be quieter. After all, Alice was his sister, and who knew how much they actually shared with each other.

"He's a nice guy, and a great friend, but I don't think we should be more than that," I said, catching the navy bikini she threw me and turning around as she pulled on her red one.

"I don't know, honey," she sighed. "Maybe you should give him a chance." I shook my head.

"We're just friends, Rose," I said, swallowing a lump in my throat. "Really good friends." No matter what, I had to be his friend. I couldn't deal with not at least being that. He'd flirted with me from the very night I met him, it was just part of who he was and I couldn't look any farther into it than that. Even if he did give me shivers.

"Go put that on," Rose instructed when Alice appeared in the doorway, fixing her hair with her fingertips, successfully spiking it out enough. "And wear... your little jean shorts, and that pink tank top Alice bought for you a couple of weeks ago." With that I scurried out of the room as Alice picked up a brush and hair band to help Rose get ready.

I did as I was told and put on my denim shorts on top of the bathing suit. However, I didn't pack the tank top Rose had wanted me to wear (having foiled Alice's attempts at sneaking it into my bag). I resorted to a plain white v-neck t shirt and my sunglasses, slipping into my low rise converse as I bounded down the stairs ahead of the girls.

"Hey," Edward called from the boardwalk, waving a hand at me. I noticed he had changed into his swim shorts and a shirt exactly like mine. He'd probably swiped them from the laundry room, as had Emmett and Jasper. They smiled at me as they walked past, carrying a canoe above their heads.

"Need any help?" I called down to them.

"Grab the oars, will ya?" Emmett nodded his head to the pile of oars lying by the open shed door. I hoisted them up into my arms, rather clumsily, and started my walk down the boardwalk. I'd picked up the oars clumsily, and they were crossing over each other awkwardly in my arms. Needless to say I'd dropped them a couple times. I barely made it halfway to the beach when Edward hurried up and scooped them from my arms, smiling warmly at me before heading back down to the water.

"Here, dumb-dumb," Rosalie called from the porch. "You forgot your bag of goodies. Alice raced down the boardwalk as fast as she could, tossing my bag into my hand as she went. Rosalie coolly walked down, slipping on her sunglasses as she went.

My bag was full of fly dope, sun screen and various other little things I'd need for a day out on the water in this heat. There were, of course, a couple of snacks.

I stumbled down to the beach and looked down the sand towards the wharf where my five friends were bustling about, setting up the canoes and hauling on life jackets. I watching Edward lean down and speak to Alice while Emmett and Rosalie listening to whatever Jasper was instructing them. I saw their hands pointing out towards an island on the farther side of the lake.

I dropped my bags on the wharf and slipped out of my shoes as Jasper climbed into the canoe with Alice and Edward gave them a push out, despite Emmett and Rosalie's protests that they were getting an unfair advantage. I grinned as I pulled my hair up into a loose ponytail and saw the brightly coloured buckets and shovels Edward had dug out of the shed for us.

"I guess you're serious about this sandcastle business, hey?" I called, finally grabbing his attention as he turned around to look at me. I screamed as he smiled widely and ran at me, frantically trying to get away from him, but he grabbed me around the waist and spun me around before scooping me into his arms and threatening to drop me in the water.

We settled down into the sand, and after swatting Edward's sunscreen covered hands away from my legs I picked up the red pail and filled it with sand. I started plopping bucketfuls of sand all over the place, and Edward began to carefully craft a masterpiece from them.

I felt anxious today for some reason. Like my nerves were trying to tell me something about the outcome of this day; it _will _be shit, it _will _be marvellous, it _will_ start something new. I didn't know. And it was making me restless.

So, while Edward started construction on the southern wall of our fortress, I pulled my shirt over my head and dropped my shorts on top of the tower he was working on before running grinning at him. He was frozen, staring up at me while I dropped my glasses onto my clothes and ran to the wharf. I paused when I hit the wooden planks and looked over my shoulder at him. He was stunned, it was clear by the way he was staring and my clothes lying on the sand.

"Edward," I called and he looked up dazedly. "You coming?" I smiled as I watched the grin spread across his lips and he stood up, pulling the shirt over his head and chasing after me. I squealed as I ran to the end of the wharf and jumped, splashing loudly into the cool water. I heard him come in after me and I swam as fast as I could to the floating wharf, pulling myself up before he could catch me.

I watched as his reddish brown head popped out of the water and he flicked the hair from his eyes. He scanned the water, searching for me and I saw his confused expression. I giggled and he caught the sound, spinning around and smiling at me. I laid down on my stomach and rested my chin on my arms at the edge of the wood as he swam up to me.

"You seem awfully energetic today," he said, treading water as he rest his head close to mine.

"It's a beautiful day," was my weak excuse. My voice shook slightly thanks to the way he was looking at me. The sun must have been shining right behind me—his pupils were so small his eyes were mostly green and absolutely beautiful. I heard the water shift as he pushed himself up and closer to me, turning his head to the side as he pressed his lips against mine.

I breathed in sharply through my nose and all I could smell was him. A smell so distinctly summer and freedom and boy. All I could hear were his sharp breaths and maybe if I'd reached my fingers to his neck I could have felt a pulse racing as quickly as my own. I could feel his eyelashes on my cheek as he pulled away just the smallest amount to pull himself up higher, twist his fingers into my hair and kiss me again. I could feel warmth from his skin as he pushed himself out of the water and forced me to sit up in order to keep our lips together.

I heard yelling behind us, loud cheers of victory and we broke apart to look behind us where Jasper and Alice had reached the island first and were climbing out of their canoe, Rose and Emmett close behind them. We both laughed lightly and when I turned back I was still face to chest with him. If I looked up I would have been in for another kiss. I looked up with my eyes and saw him smiling at me, that brilliant green overpowering everything else in my field of vision.

Because I didn't know what to say to him, nor did I think I'd be able to stop if he kissed me like that again, I pushed him into the water. His face lost that calm and cool charm and he looked panicked for a second as he lost his balance and fell under the surface. I fell onto my back laughing and staring up at the clouds. I heard him coughing as he pushed himself onto the wharf and laid down next to me.

"You're cruel," he grumbled, earning a giggle as a response.

"I see a canoe," I sighed, pointing at a cloud. Edward frowned and scrunched up his face.

"Looks more like a rabbit, to me," He mumbled.

"Are you joking?" I scoffed, rolling onto my side to face him. "You can see the oars sticking over the side."

"Bella," he looked at me pointedly. "Those are the ears."

"You're crazy, Edward."

"You love it."

I didn't answer.

We spent hours swimming and mastering our sandcastle. I was pretty big, and I guess kind of intricate. While I'd been swimming I'd picked up pretty rocks like some sort of five year old. Edward excitedly took them each time and poked them into the walls of the castle.

Alright, it looked pathetic.

Neither one of us knew what we were doing and we essentially just had little piles of dirt connected by longer parts of dirt. Well, I did. The sections Edward worked on actually looked really nice but when they were mashed in amongst the ones I'd made, it looked horrible. His enthusiasm was appreciated, nonetheless.

We'd gone swimming a lot, too. Every time our hair had completely dried out and we were starting to feel too warm we'd dive into the water until our skin wrinkled. The other four were wandering about the tiny island, and occasionally we could hear their shouts and laughter. Edward and I sat down on the wharf sharing bags of snacks and listening to my iPod. I kicked my toes through the water and he mimicked the action now and then as we watched our friends climb into the canoe and start to race back.

God love Rosalie Hale. Emmett must have kept her on that island for too long because while he was paddling like mad to get back to shore, Rosalie just kept paddling in the same directions as him, making them go into circles. Sometimes she wouldn't paddle at all and just kept looking at him with wide eyes, her mouth forming a tiny 'o' and insisting she didn't know why they weren't moving.

Jasper and Alice laughed the entire way to the wharf where Edward tied up their canoe. When she saw that she had successfully lost, Rosalie started paddling like a good sport and got the grumpy Emmett to dry land.

"What time is it?" Alice asked as she stretched. Edward checked his iPod and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Close to seven."

"Really?! I guess that's right, we didn't really get up until after two." My stomach growled noisily and my cheeks turned bright red. Edward grinned and tossed my shorts and t shirt at me.

"Let's go get some supper, hey?" I nodded and followed behind him quietly, hopping into my clothes and sneakers.

We all helped out with the food again. Alice made us drinks while the boys prepped the chicken and brought it out to barbeque. Rose and I made a green salad and real garlic bread, and then it wasn't long until we were sitting in the living playing old Super Nintendo games while the sun dipped over the horizon and spread an orange light over us.

We passed out with full bellies, everyone of us taking naps across the room in different positions while the music of Super Mario or Super Metroid or Zelda, one of them, was a lullaby for us. I was stretched across the couch, which admittedly didn't have any legs, so it was easy for Edward to let his head fall back into my lap and my hands twist into his hair. Alice and Jasper were squished into a reclining chair and the controller in his hand had fallen to the floor. Emmett was sprawled out on the floor on the many pillows and blankets we'd laid out, and Rosalie's legs were resting in an arm chair while her head was resting on Em's chest.

We were quite the group.

When I woke up it had gotten almost fully dark outside. I gently lifted Edward's head up to slide myself out. He let out a cute little groan before clutching onto a pillow and shoving his face into it. It was a dry night, and through the clouds I could see some stars. There was a fire pit out back and I remembered there were old logs around it that we could sit on. I slipped on my sneakers and grabbed a sweater and went outside to find some kindling.

By the time I'd gathered a small bundle Jasper had come out to help me. He went to take some bigger logs from the wood shed while I went inside and gently shook everyone awake.

"How you guys feel about a bonfire?" Alice squealed and jumped over Emmett and Rose on her way to find enough roasting sticks for everyone. I dug out packets of hot dogs and marshmallows, Rosalie grabbing the extra fixings for s'mores and we went outside.

Jasper had the fire started and was slowly building it up by the time we'd gotten everyone out. Edward was still sleepily confused but he'd been alert enough to grab a blanket off the couch on his way out.

We sat around the fire and roasted marshmallows and hot dogs, ate an entire second meal while the boys told ghost stories. Alice's horror story had involved a hangnail gone wrong, and if I was being honest, it was actually kind of creepy.

"Please don't say the call was coming from inside the house," Rosalie whimpered, hiding behind her blackened marshmallow.

"Nope, no calls from inside the house. But the dog? Licking her hand under the bed?" We all nodded. Emmett grinned. "Her dog was out on the back porch, dead. It was the escaped convict under her bed." The shrieks that filled the woods made my stomach twist in fright. Sure, I'd heard the stories before, but being out here in the dark listening to it told around a fire was something else entirely.

"Okay, enough spooky stories," Jasper said, shivering and holding Alice to him. He finished off a s'more and gave it to her and she smiled appreciatively.

"So are you two looking forward to starting school here?" Rosalie asked, finally picking the ruined piece of confection from her stick.

"Yes! It's been a great summer, but now I'm ready for the fall fashions to get out, not to mention be a bit more productive!" Alice always had a good outlook on things, even the start of the school year.

"I'll just be glad to stop working at the Thriftway," Edward said with a grin and Emmett raised his soda bottle.

"Edward you going to join any sports?" Em asked him while Rosalie started telling Alice all about the different clubs at school.

"I'm probably going to go for track team," Edward said quietly. Emmett and Jasper both started singing the praises of football and baseball and Edward laughed loudly, waving them with his marshmallow sticky finger to quiet down. "I will try out for both football and baseball but I make no promises."

"It's going to be nuts when you guys get to school. I can't remember the last time we had a new kid," Emmett said thoughtfully. Rosalie smacked his head and he looked at her in outrage. "WHAT?!"

"It was me, you moron," she sighed. He thought for a moment and then smiled at her, pecking her on the cheek.

"No one knows you're even here yet, so if they find out you've been here all summer the Spanish Inquisition will start," Rose added.

"That's not true," Emmett grinned. "Jessica Stanley sure as hell knows they're here, am I right?"

That was all it took. I froze, staring at the fire with the remnants of a hotdog in my mouth. I realised I had to keep chewing and listening to the conversation. Alice looked at Emmett, humour gone from her face.

"I mean, the kids at school will know straight away that Alice is taken, but Edward's pretty much fresh meat, you don't stand a chance," they laughed but Alice glanced at me again, taking in my expression. I smiled at her the best I could. "Of course, you'll probably be able to wrap everyone around your finger, right?"

There it was. The affirmation that I didn't know I'd been looking for. The reasons I'd been trying to convince myself all summer that I couldn't get involved with Edward beyond being his friend were right there, laid out in front of me. Emmett knew it. Everyone knew it.

I was just some girl he met his first night in town. His neighbour who showed him around and passed the time with him until everyone came back from vacation and went to school. Until he could pick and choose someone better than me, prettier than me, more popular than me.

I was never good enough, and I knew this, and now someone had confirmed it for me. I would never be the only girl getting shivers and goose bumps for this beautiful boy, I wouldn't be the only one to shiver when his lips were too close. I'd never be the only one to get lost in those amazingly green eyes, and I'd never be the only one to imagine myself just a tiny bit closer to him.

Because that is what girls did with Edward Masen. It was impossible not to. When someone that perfect walks into your life it's impossible not to want to know him or be with him.

I'd been wrong to believe it from the very start.

I stood up straight and pulled my sweater on, feeling the tears start in my eyes and the lumps form in my throat and my nose. I wanted to get out of here, before they could see me truly break down, so I turned and ran.

"Bella?" he called after me, jumping up and running after me, grabbing my arm when I was just outside our little group circle of fun and love and heartache. "Bella, what's wrong?" He asked, his eyes and voice full of the concern any friend would have.

I turned to look at him and I knew they could all see my red face and the tears running hotly out of my eyes. I had to get away.

"I can't fall in love with you," I breathed out and he froze. His hold on my arm slackened and his mouth dropped open as his eyes widened in surprise. A sobbed choked my throat until I nearly screamed it out and I turned and ran down the dark dirt road as fast as I could.


	12. Chapter 12

**If you read Kismet, which you should (:D) You'll know that I am trying out a new updating schedule. I'm not telling you what it is, right now, because I'm still trying to see if I can keep up with it. Even if it is ambitious, it's a lot more than I've had to handle in the past while!**

**This chapter is both sad and happy, but mostly happy.**

**You'll finish it happy.**

**I promise.**

**P.S. Today is my birthday. I am 20 now.  
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Chapter Twelve**

My feet pounded against the ground as I ran. It was the only thing I could hear aside from my heavy breaths. I didn't know where I was going. I wasn't exactly sure why I was running. But I did. I ran as hard as I could, faster than I ever have before. It wouldn't have seemed so easy in any normal circumstances, but faced with acknowledging that Edward...

Oh.

That's right. I was running from Edward. I was running from my best friend and the most perfect boy I knew. I was running from the fact that he could have anyone, and I'd never be good enough.

It was dark out. So unbelievably dark out. Clouds covered most of the sky and blocked out any light stars had to offer. The moon peeked from between their shadows in brief occasions, but for the most part only a small amount of hazy light was offered from the sky.

I stared ahead of me, feeling hot tears slide down my eyes and burst from my eyes, feeling too thin and too numerous. I stared ahead of me on the path, the various shades of black blue and green my only indicators at turns on the dirt road.

I thought of my friends sitting around the campfire and the words Emmett said that I knew I never wanted to hear, that I pretended wouldn't be true. I choked back a sob and started to slow down—needing to stop to scream or cry or anything. I started to wipe at my eyes and of course this was too much for me. It attempting to avoid a wayward bush I jerked too far to my left and felt my ankle twist painfully, sending me flying to the ground.

I scraped the heels of my hands painfully on the dirt and gravel before falling onto my elbows and then there was a huge clap of thunder—I hadn't even noticed the lightning—and then the sky opened up on top of me. I was completely soaked within seconds and that only made me cry harder.

I sat back on the side of the road, trying to avoid the mud that was forming in the road. I held my ankle and pushed at the skin while sniffling so loudly I was probably scaring away anything in the woods that thought about eating me. I had definitely sprained my ankle- at least.

My efforts to calm down my breathing just made a lump in my throat too painful to hide, so I wound up crying so hard I was nearly screaming. He was my best friend and I was so madly in love with him it hurt me. I knew everything about him; I could tell you anything you wanted to know. I knew the way his hair fell into his eyes, the way his lip curled in the corners differently to make his perfect imperfect smile. I could tell you what foods he hated, what music he refused to listen to, what music made him uncontrollably burst into dance, what foods main him moan in delight and what foods made him looked nearly afraid to eat them.

Most of all I knew the way my heart beat differently when he was around. I knew the heat in my chest at the sight of him, and the fluttering I got when he spoke. I knew the way I felt so much lighter when he laughed, or spoke, or looked at me with his amazing eyes.

I was in love with Edward. Madly. And there was nothing I could do to change it. There was nothing I could do to ignore the fact that in September there would be a school full of girls prettier and more social than I was, and he could have his pick of them all.

This was what made it so hard to stop crying, because I had never felt so strongly about him as I had anyone else in my entire life. I held onto my arms and leaned forward into my knees, pressing into my stomach to keep the sick feeling at bay, trying to ignore the ache in my foot and the cold wetness of rain and mud soaking into my sneakers.

I finally started to take in my surroundings: the middle of the woods in a thunder storm, soaking wet and crying. I let out a shaky sigh and felt like my sobfest might be nearing its end. It was easier to breathe, now. That was, of course, when I heard the tires coming up the path, headlights peeking through trees. I struggled to stand, holding onto a tree trunk and pulling myself up with it, turning to look at Emmett's giant jeep slowing down next to me.

The headlights stayed on, shining bright ahead, and I could hear the motor keep running despite the fact that the door opened and then someone was running around the front of the jeep, breathing heavily. There he was, all messy haired and panicked, staring at me and panting, his entire chest heaving before he launched himself at me and I wrapped my arms around my neck to keep me up.

He held me so tightly against him my body immediately warmed up, unable to breathe. I whimpered slightly when he swayed us from side to side, sighing into my neck. When he heard me he pulled back and looked over me, pushing the hair from my face and wiping away my tears. I managed to sigh out 'my ankle' and he nodded and lifted me by the waist, turning to set me on the hood of the jeep. Despite how high up I was he was still perfectly eye level with me.

"What happened to your ankle?" he asked with concern, his hands on my foot but his eyes still gazing into mine.

"I fell—twisted it," I said quietly after another clap of thunder. I started shaking from both the cold and my silly irrational fear.

"Can you please tell me why you ran away and why you've been crying so much?" he asked softly. His face was lit up with a flash of lightning and it was as though seeing him in such a brief light was enough to make me realise just how concerned he was for me.

"You don't want me," I choked out. I covered my eyes with my hands, not wanting him to see me cry but he pulled them away. "I was the first person you met here, so of course you wanted to be friends. You've always joked around about liking me, but there are so many other girls in Forks, despite how small it is, and once we get back to school they will all be after you because you're beautiful and perfect and just so _amazing_ and how can I ever compete with that? You'll be faced with all these other options and you won't want me anymore. I ran away because I can't deal with the fact that I'm fucking in _love_ with you, and when summer ends, so will this." He was shocked, it was clear by his expression, and of course he would be.

"Bella," he breathed out under the thunder. "How can you—why do you—" he never got out what he wanted to say, curing his stutter by pulling me to him and pressing him lips firmly against mine. And got was it ever a kiss. So much better than every one he had stolen this summer.

His tongue snaked into my mouth immediately and his lips were so feverish and hard against hers she couldn't even kiss him back. His hand knotted in her hair and splayed against her back, pushing her up against him made her flush and her heart race and a knot in her stomach form. She forgot everything she had been thinking and all she could feel was what he felt for her.

"God, Bella," he moaned when he came up for air before kissing her again, more soft and sweet, his full lips against hers in a way that made her shiver. He pulled away just far enough to speak, his hands traced her face and his nose followed their patterns.

"Bella I wanted you because that first day I saw you you were so enveloped in your book, and your face was so full of expression- it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I got nervous, and acted like an idiot, but every day that went by being just your friend tore through me, and I knew I just had to wait until you realised I wasn't just messing around." He paused to kiss me again and then pulled back, looking me in the eyes. "I've been in love with you for months, Bella. Can't you see that? I've never known anyone the way I know you, I've never cared about anyone as much as I do you. We were made for each other, the odds were always stacked out our favour."

Hearing those words from him, after spending a summer doubting and avoiding made the anxious knot in my chest loosen. I launched myself into his arms, thankful he caught me and held me to him as it probably wasn't my most thought through plan. Landing on my foot would not have been good. He laughed and spun me around, setting me down gently to kiss me, the water pouring over us making our licks slick and fast.

"Can I take you back, now? You'll catch cold," he murmured against my ear, sending shivers down my side. I nodded and smiled as he scooped me up and deposited me in the passenger seat with a quick and chaste kiss.

The lightning flashed outside and was almost immediately followed by thunder, meaning that it was definitely close, but I couldn't find it in me to be afraid. Edward turned up the heat as I started shivering and somehow managed to turn around in the tiny road.

"Edward if we were just friends the whole summer then why did you keep kissing me?" I asked after a moments silence in which he'd grabbed my hand.

"What, did you think I wanted benefits?" He grinned and I tried to hide my smirk. "I love you, Bella. I wanted to wait for you to realise that but sometimes I couldn't help myself. It seemed to best way to get it through to you." My cheeks hurt from smiling so widely at his words so I kissed him the best could, but I was laughing too much.

He set me down in the passenger's seat and flung his coat over me for warmth. The rain had soaked my clothes and my arms were cold. We drove back to the cabin in silence. It had felt like I'd ran forever but in the car it didn't take us long at all to get back. The fire had been put out and there were lights on in almost all the rooms of the cabin—I could see our friends pacing in the living room and sitting nervously in the kitchen.

I managed to get out of the car before Edward reached my side and limped my way towards the porch but he stepped in front of me and glared. I sighed and held on tight as he scooped me up. He bent down slightly so that I could open the door and we slid inside, shaking the rain out of our hair.

"Holy shit, Bella, are you okay?" Rose asked in a rush as she ran over to us. Emmett took me from Edward and laid me down on the couch while Alice grabbed a first aid kit.

"Yeah," I said quietly, starting to feel guilty about how I had reacted. "I'm sorry I worried everyone. I was just being stupid." Jasper nodded at my statement and I rolled my eyes at him, but still felt bad. Edward pushed Alice out of the way and carefully untied my show, pulling my swollen foot from it and peeling off the wet sock. There was a collective grimace and I just looked away as they placed ice on it.

"I can't tell if it's broken or not," Edward said softly. "We should probably back up and head back home—get you to a hospital."

"No, no, no, no, no!" I insisted, jumping up and knocking Edward's hand away from my foot. I pushed myself up into a sitting position, wincing at the sharp pain in my ankle. "I _really_ don't want to cut the trip short for anybody, please. Trust me—I've broken my legs plenty of times to know that this isn't a break, it's only a sprain. If you could wrap it up tightly and put some ice on it it'll be okay until we go home, I promise." He didn't look convinced, so I reached out and smoothed the worry from his eyebrows before cupping his cheek in my hand. "Trust me?"

He smiled weakly at me and turned to pull the bandage from the first aid kit, wrapping my foot almost painfully tight in it. I noticed the few glances given to us and the grins that grew on everyone's faces. They could tell, just from this small display. Edward cleaned up the scrapes on my knees and hands, healing them with light kisses while our friends set up the Super Nintendo and made snacks. He pulled my feet into his lap when he sat down, elevating them further on pillows. At the pauses in video games he'd stroke my legs and warm them with his hands. I laughed and chewed on a veggie plate while watching them play Mario Brothers and various other games. Rose and Alice cheered for the boys before turning back and checking on me.

Despite the way it began the night was a good one. I passed out on the couch and vaguely remembered waking up as I was being carried up the stairs. Edward put me gently on top of the covers and I vaguely remembered pushing my shorts down my legs, letting him pull them the rest of the way off. He covered me up with a blanket, and when I protested at his departure turned around with a smile and climbed into bed next to me.

I hadn't slept so comfortably in a while.

I woke up wrapped up entirely in his arms and let out a deep breath with a smile. I watched Edward's face light up and the corners of his lips smile but he didn't open his eyes, too tired.

"Morning, sleepy," I whispered as I kissed his lips lightly. He let out a tiny groan and turned his face towards me, rubbing and nose his lips against me, though too sleepy to kiss me.

"Come on, let's get our day started," I said with a giggle. I tried to get up but found myself stuck to the bed. The cause, of course, was that Edward's arms were wrapped so tightly around my waist. I turned back around to shoot him a look but he was still smiling widely with his eyes closed.

"Bella?" he whispered to the muted light of the room.

"Yes?" I whispered back.

"I love you." He kissed me sweetly and I smiled against him as I wrapped my arms around him.

Edward helped me limp down the stairs to join our friends after we'd dressed. We ate cereal in relative silence, only speaking to make quick plans for a last trip to the water. Edward carried me down to the beach, set me in one of the canoes and moved me out to the floating wharf.

While my friends and apparent boyfriend frolicked around in the water, I laid down on the wharf and read a Vizzini book, using it to block the sun from my eyes. I could hear their splashes in the water and smiled to myself, taking smalls breaks now and then to watch them.

Just as I had gotten to a crucial part in the book, my eyes were covered by soaking wet hands. I giggled when Edward leaned over to give me sloppy, wet kissed. "I hope I'm not neglecting you too much," he grinned. "I'll have to make up for it." I rolled onto my stomach and smiled.

"You definitely need to pay your dues now, mister." He kissed me with a smile and I barely listened to our friends cheering and whooping as I twisted my hands into his hair.

He stayed with me then, switching from reading to me with his legs in the water, swimming around the wharf, or lying on his back listening to me read. Usually he was trying to cover me with kissed but would stop when we got dangerously close to falling into the water.

When the sky turned orange we hurried back to the cabin. Mostly I sat around feeling useless as everyone cleaned up, packed up our garbage and our clothes, and got ready to leave. I delegated myself the list-checker, if that's even an honourable position. Essentially I told them all what to do and made sure the cabin was clean before we left. Edward carried our bags out to the car, along with the left over perishable food. Emmett and the other got the pleasure of carrying home our garbage.

Edward and I drove with laughter and singing, similar to how we drove in. This time it was different. This time I didn't have to over think anything at all, suppress anything unknowingly— ignore the ache in my heart. This time I let this ridiculously amazing feeling of love pour out of me when I looked at his smiling face and held his hand when he didn't know what to do with it.

When we got home I was happier than I had been all summer, even if my foot ached. My mother overreacted, as usual. I was strapped into her car before I could even get out of Edward's and heading straight for the hospital. I waved at him from the window as we drove away, as if to say 'I told you I'd go once we got back'.

I came home later that night, new crutches and cast intact. Edward's front door opened and slammed shut as he ran across his lawn towards me. My mother grinned at us and winked as she went back inside, feeling calm after hearing from the doctor that we'd been right about my ankle.

"Hey, beautiful," Edward breathed out as he reached me, leaning down for a quick kiss. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good," I said with a grin as I hobbled after him to the center of his thick, green lawn. "I'm put on extreme rest for the next two weeks. Sitting on the couch and vacation time from work, here I come."

Edward laughed. "Good thing I quit my job today," he grinned. "Looks like you'll have company in that time." I smiled at him and kissed him as we fell back into the grass. "Will you stargaze with me?"

"I'd love nothing more."


End file.
